Back in the real olden days, the 1940s, yours truly had constant problems concentrating and was a real pain-in-the-ass to my mother and other family members. My school grades from kindergarten through my first year of college were poor. Except for the two years I spent attending a private boarding prep-school in Beirut, Lebanon. While there, I was forced to sit at a desk 2-3 hours a night and, at least, pretend to be studying. While my ability to concentrate remained a problem, I did learn how to study. My performance on the College Entrance Boards was, at best, mediocre. I was accepted at a very small college in New Mexico. While there, I barely passed my classes and, with the help of my advisor, was able to transfer to Oregon State.

Shortly after my arrival in Corvallis I met a fellow student whose father was a pharmacist and who himself was a pharmacy student. He suggested that taking amphetamines would make it easier for me to memorize all those thousands of things that a student in the biological sciences was expected to know. Back in 1954 all students entering Oregon State took a standardized A.C.E. test which purportedly measured one�s probability of success in college. My test results put me into the fourth percentile. After taking my first set of exams a totally surprised advisor told me that he did not understand how I could done so well. He had expected me to fail. To make along story short my grades improved so much that I was often was on the honor roll and upon graduation was accepted at the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to my arrival to Berkeley I had traveled to the Middle East and, while there, had purchased hundreds of Dexedrine tables for use in graduate school. Had it not been for these drugs I am sure I would not have made it through my first year of graduate school. During this period of time I discovered espresso coffee and, through most of the subsequent years I used caffeine and related alkaloids to sharpen my mind. I recently took one of those on-line tests to determine if I am an ADD individual and, low and behold, I test positive.

I am now 70 years of age and unable to ingest large amounts of any stimulant due to a medical condition. Did my arrhythmia come from my years of taking stimulants? Who knows? Is my increasing inability to concentrate due to A.D.D., aging or something else? Who knows? What I do know is that I am more alert and my mind is sharper when I drink a double espresso

I have not watched the Oscar show for more than 4 years.

The 12 friends and I who watched last nights Oscar show found it ot be very satisfying. None of us were disappointed that Brokeback Mountain did not do a sweep.

We loved Jon Steward and thought he did a great job.

I suggest Cintra Wilson stop watching the Oscar shows and try somethign else for a while.

Ann Coulter's remarks about fragging Murtha should ghet her arrested by the secret service.

I suggest rather than be arrested she be inducted into the US military and sent to Iraq as a truck driver.

Monroe

What about gummy candies and colostomy bags?

I live in an 80 year old stucco house on a 80X30 piece of property in Oakland and recently have begun the process of replacing a number of windows with double pane.

PG&E used to give rebate son such windows to single-family homeowners like myself. They now only give them to owners of multi-family dwellings (apartment houses.

I can't get anyone at PG&E to give me a logical explanation as to why they stopped these window rebates.

Oh yes they will give me a rebate if I spend $800.00 plus dollars or more on new washers and dryers. If PG&E wants to give me an interest-free long-term loans to replace my older washer and dryer I would be grateful, but not before they give me information on exactly how much carbon the manufacture of these items produces. Information often left out of the equation.

I am 72 and retired living on a fixed income. How about offering some money incentives to people in my situation. I purposely purchased a home which is close to a neighborhood that has stores to meet my basic needs.

PS: I either take walk or take public transportation whenever I can and I drive less than 100 miles a month in a 21 year old automobile.

As a 73 year old man myself I must say I want someone younger to run this country. I am fed up with all these arrogant old men running the show. It's time to look forward for a change.

"We must not allow the past to bury the future."

Warehouse 13 sound a bit like the older TV series"Friday the 13th.

However, as I recall, there was not much humor in the older TV series

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092357/