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Humpday Hilarities – Birthday Edition

Before I get started, I’d like to thank everyone for the warm birthday wishes. Y’all really make my day.

This first funny is courtesy of Don:

How did you break your arm?

Even if you aren’t a skier, you’ll be able to appreciate the humor of the slopes as written by a New Orleans paper:

A friend just got back from a holiday skiing trip to Utah With The kind of story that warms the cockles of anybody’s heart.

Conditions were perfect…12 below, no feeling in the toes, basic numbness all over…the “Tell me when we’re having fun” kind of day.

One of the women in the group complained to her husband that she was in dire need of a rest room. He told her not to worry, that he was Sure there was relief waiting at the top of the lift in the form of a Powder room for female skiers in distress. He was wrong, of course, and the Pain did not go away. If you’ve ever had nature hit its panic button, you then you know that a temperature of 12 below doesn’t help matters.

With time running out, the woman weighed her options. Her husband, picking up on the intensity of the pain, suggested that since she was wearing an all-white ski outfit, she should go off in the woods and no one would even notice. He assured her, “The white will provide more than adequate camouflage.”

So she headed for the tree line, began lowering her ski pants and proceeded to do her thing. If you’ve ever parked on the side of a slope, then you know there is a right way and wrong way to set your skis so you don’t move.

Yup, you got it!!! She had them positioned the wrong way. Steep slopes are not forgiving… even during the most embarrassing moments. Without warning, the woman found herself skiing backward, out-of-control, Racing through the trees…somehow missing all of them and onto another slope.

Her derriere and the reverse side were still bare, her pants down around her knees, and she was picking up speed all the while. She continued backwards, totally out-of-control, creating an unusual vista for the other skiers. The woman skied back under the lift and finally collided violently with a pylon.

The bad news was that she broke her arm and was unable to pull up her ski pants. At long last her husband arrived, putting an end to her nudie show, then summoned the ski patrol. They transported her to a hospital.

While in the emergency room, a man with an obviously broken leg was put in the bed next to hers. “So, how’d you break your leg?” she asked, making small talk. “It was the stupidest thing you ever saw,” he said. “I was riding up this ski lift and suddenly, I couldn’t believe my eyes! There was this crazy woman skiing backward, out-of-control, down the mountain, with her bare bottom hanging out of her pants. I leaned over to get a better look and fell out of the lift….

So, how’d you break your arm?”

And these are courtesy of my Cotillion sister, Janette:

The Talking Dog

A guy has a talking dog. He brings it to a talent scount. “This dog can speak English,” he claims to the unimpressed agent. “Okay, Sport,” the guys says to the dog, “what’s on the top of a house?”

“Roof!” the dog replies.

“Oh, come on…” the talent agent responds. “All dogs go ‘roof’.”

“No, wait,” the guy says. He asks the dog “what does sandpaper feel like?”

“Rough!” the dog answers. The talent agent gives a condescending blank stare. He is losing his patience.

“No, hang on,” the guy says. “This one will amaze you. ” He turns and asks the dog: “Who, in your opinion, was the greatest baseball player of all time?”

“Ruth!” goes the dog. And the talent scount, having seen enough, boots them out of his office onto the street.

And the dog turns to the guy and says “Maybe I shoulda said DiMaggio?”

Alligator Shoes

A man was on holiday in the depths of Louisiana, where he tried to buy some Alligator shoes. However he was not prepared to pay the high prices, and after having failed to haggle the vendor down to a reasonable price level, ended up shouting. “I don’t give two hoots for your shoes man, I’ll go and kill my own gator!” to which the shopkeeper replied,

“By all means, just watch out for those two good ole boys who are doing the same!”

So the man went out into the Bayou, and after a while saw two men with spears, standing still in the water. ‘They must be the good ole boys,’ he thought. Just at that point he noticed an alligator moving in the water towards one of them. The guy stood completely passive, even as the gator came ever closer.

Just as the beast was about to swallow the him, he struck home with his spear and wrestled the gator up onto the beach, where several gators were already laying. Together the two guys threw the gator onto its back, whereupon one exclaimed “Darn! This one don’t have no shoes neither!”

The License

A Mom is driving a little girl to her friends house for a play date. “Mommy,” the little girl asks, “how old are you?”

“Honey, you are not supposed to ask a lady her age,” the mother warns. It is not polite.”

“OK,” the little girl says, “How much do you weigh?”

“Now really,” the mother says, “these are personal questions and are really none of your business.”

Undaunted, the little girl asks, “Why did you and daddy get a divorce?”

“Those are enough questions, honestly!” The exasperated mother walks away as the two friends begin to play.

“My Mom wouldn’t tell me anything,” the little girl says to her friend.

“Well,” said the friend, “all you need to do is look at her drivers license. It is like a report card, it has everything on it.”

Later that night the little girl says to her mother, “I know how old you are, you are 32.”

The mother is surprised and asks, “How did you find that out?”

“I also know that you weigh 140 pounds.” The mother is past surprise and shock now.

“How in heavens name did you find that out?”

And,” the little girl says triumphantly, “I know why you and daddy got a divorce.”

“Oh really?” the mother asks. “Why?”

“Because you got an F in sex.”

Origins

A 2nd grader asked her mother the age-old question, “How did I get here?”

Her mother told her, “God sent you.”

“Did God send you, too?” asked the child.

“Yes, Dear,” the mother replied.

“What about Grandma and Grandpa?” the child persisted.

“He sent them also” the mother said.

“Did he send their parents, too?” asked the child.

“Yes, Dear, He did,” said the mother patiently.
“So you’re telling me that there has been NO sex in this family for 200 years? No wonder everyone’s so damn grumpy around here.”

A lonely woman, age 70, decided it was time to get married. She put an ad in the local paper:

HUSBAND WANTED:
MUST BE IN MY AGE GROUP (70′S)
MUST NOT BEAT ME
MUST NOT RUN AROUND ON ME
MUST STILL BE GOOD IN BED
ALL APPLICANTS PLEASE APPLY IN PERSON

On the second day she heard the door bell ring. Much to her dismay, she opened the door to see a gray-haired gentleman sitting in a wheel chair. He had no arms or legs.

The old woman said “You’re not really asking me to consider you? You have no legs.”

The Old Man smiled, “Therefore I cannot run around on you.”

She snorted, “You don’t have any arms either.”

Again he smiled, “Nor can I beat you.”

She raised her eyebrow and gazed intently, “Are you still good in bed?”

With that the old gentleman leaned back, beamed a big broad smile and said, ” I rang the doorbell didn’t I?”

And this one is from my Cotillion sister, Kathleen:

I feel like my body has gotten totally out of shape, so I got my doctor’s permission to join a fitness club and start exercising. I decided to take an aerobics class for seniors.

I bent, twisted, gyrated, jumped up and down and sweated for an hour. But, by the time I got my leotards on, the class was over.

And last but not least, this is from my pal Sarah:

What if WWII were an MMORTS

(MMORTS = Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy)

It’s written like a chat log between a handful of gamers, except it pretty well sums up World War II. There’s a bit of language, but funny as hell if you like gaming/history humor.

New Neopets petpage template: Fairy Dust

I had originally designed this for a Blogger template, but ported to Neopets petpage format by request. I have several other designs that I will be (hopefully) porting soon.

Preview:

Code:

Download here.

To install:

Go to your Neopets’ homepages index. Click the “Edit” link under the pet whose page you want to modify. Copy the contents of the template’s code file into the edit box. Scroll down and click “Preview Changes.” After the preview page loads, scroll down and click “Save Changes.”

Quotes for Football Fans

My mother just sent me this one:

#1. ‘Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless, Beat Texas ‘ – Seen on a church sign in Arkansas prior to the 1969 game.

#2. ‘After you retire, there’s only one big event left… and I ain’t ready for that.’ – Bobby Bowden / Florida State

#3. ‘The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.’ – Lou Holtz / Arkansas

#4. ‘When you win, nothing hurts.’ – Joe Namath / Alabama

#5. ‘Motivation is simple.. You eliminate those who are not motivated.’ – Lou Holtz / Arkansas

#6. ‘If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, ‘Roll, tide, roll!’ – Bear Bryant / Alabama

#7. ‘A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.’ – Frank Leahy / Notre Dame

#8. ‘There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.’ – Woody Hayes / Ohio State

#9. ‘I don’t expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.’ – Bob Devaney / Nebraska

#10. ‘In Alabama , an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in Bear Bryant.’ – Wally Butts / Georgia

#11. ‘You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.’ – Paul Dietzel / LSU

#12. ‘It’s kind of hard to rally around a math class.’ – Bear Bryant / Alabama

#13. When asked if Fayetteville was the end of the world. ‘No, but you can see it from here.’ – Lou Holtz / Arkansas …

#14. ‘I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.’ – Bear Bryant / Alabama

#15. ‘There’s one sure way to stop us from scoring- give us the ball near the goal line.’ – Matty Bell / SMU

#16. ‘Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.’ – Frank Leahy / Notre Dame

#17. ‘I never graduated from Iowa , but I was only there for two terms – Truman’s and Eisenhower’s.’ – Alex Karras / Iowa

#18. ‘My advice to defensive players: Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor.’ -Bowden Wyatt / Tennessee

#19. ‘I could have been a Rhodes Scholar, except for my grades.’ – Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

#20. ‘Always remember… Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.’ – Shug Jordan / Auburn

#21. ‘They cut us up like boarding house pie. And that’s real small pieces’ – Darrell Royal / Texas

#22. ‘Show me a good and gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure.’ – Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

#23. ‘They whipped us like a tied up goat.’ – Spike Dykes / Texas Tech

#24. ‘I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn’t recruit me and he said: ‘Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren’t any good.’ – Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State

#25. ‘Son, you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the steering wheel.’ – Bobby Bowden / Florida State

#26. ‘Football is not a contact sport – it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.’ – Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State

#27. After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his postgame message to his team: ‘All those who need showers, take them.’ – John McKay / USC

#28. ‘If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.’ – Murray Warmath / Minnesota

#29. ‘The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.’ – Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

#30. ‘Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.’ – Spike Dykes / Texas Tech

#31. ‘It isn’t necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it.’ – Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

#32. ‘We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches.’ – Darrell Royal / Texas

#33. ‘We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.’ – Wilson Matthews / Little Rock Central High School

#34. ‘Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.’ – Darrell Royal / University of Texas

#35. ‘I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players.’ – Knute Rockne / Notre Dame

#36. ‘Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football.’ – John Heisman

Humpday Hilarities

I have a handful today!

This one is from Jerri:

By the time the soldier pulled into the little town, every hotel room was taken. “You’ve got to have a room somewhere”, he pleaded with a proprietor.

“Well, I do have a double room with one occupant, but he is an Air Force guy” admitted the manager, and he might be glad to split the cost. But to tell you the truth, he snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms have complained in the past. I’m not sure it’d be worth it to you..

” No problem.” the tired Army guy assured him, “I’ll take it.”

The next morning the soldier came down to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

“How’d you sleep?” asked the manager.

“Never better”, said the soldier.

The manager was impressed. “No problem with the other guy snoring all night long?”

“No, I shut him up in no time”, explained the soldier.

“How’d you manage that?” asked the proprietor..

“Well, he was already in bed, snoring away, when I walked into the room, so I gave him a kiss on the cheek” explained the soldier. “Then, I whispered in his ear ‘Good night beautiful’, and he sat up all night watching me.”

This one is from my Neopets guildmate, Rose:

A woman’s husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every single day.

One day, he motioned for her to come nearer.

She sat by him.

He whispered, eyes full of tears, ‘You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times.

When I got fired, you were there to support me.

When my business failed, you were there.

When I got shot, you were by my side.

When we lost the house, you stayed right here.

When my health started failing, you were still by my side . . .

You know what?’

‘What dear?’ She gently asked, smiling as her heart began to fill with warmth.

‘I think you’re bad luck, f*ck off!’

Here’s another one from Jerri:

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door — pet nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats:

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run.

I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is no secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years — canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, then go smell the other dog or cat’s butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don’t.
2. If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That’s why they call it ‘fur’niture.
3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
4. To you, they are an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours and doesn’t speak clearly.

Remember: Pets are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less
2. Don’t ask for money all the time
3. Are easier to train
4. Normally come when called
5. Never ask to drive the car
6. Don’t hang out with drug-using friends
7. Don’t smoke or drink
8. Don’t have to buy the latest fashions
9. Don’t want to wear your clothes
10. Don’t need a gazillion dollars for college.

AND …

11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children!!

This one is from my mother:

Sick Leave

I really needed a few days off from work, but I knew the boss wouldn’t give me time off. I thought that maybe if I acted “crazy,” then he would tell me to take a few days off. So, I hung upside-down from the ceiling and made funny noises. My co-worker asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so the boss might think I was desperately in need of a few days off.

A few minutes later, the boss came into the office and asked, “What in the world are you doing?”

I told him I was a light bulb. He said, “You are clearly stressed out. Go home and rest for a couple of days.” I jumped down and walked out of the office.

However, when my co-worker started to follow me, our boss called out, “And where do you think you’re going?”

She said, “I’m going home too. I can’t work in the dark.”

And last but not least, a little ‘Bama humor

Two Auburn students were looking at a Sears catalog and admiring the models.

One says to the other, ‘Have you seen the beautiful girls in this catalog?’

The second one replies, ‘Yes, they are very beautiful. And look at the price!’

The first one says, with wide eyes, ‘Wow, they aren’t very expensive. At this price, I’m buying one.’

The second one smiles and pats him on the back. ‘Good idea! Order one and if she’s as beautiful as she is in the catalog, I will get one too.’

Three weeks later, the youngest redneck asks his friend, ‘Did you ever receive the girl you ordered from the Sears catalog?’

The second redneck replies, ‘No, but it shouldn’t be long now. I got her clothes yesterday!’

Humpday Hilarities

This one comes courtesy of the lovely Miranda:

One sunny day in 2008, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he’d been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, “I would like to go in and meet with President Obama.” The Marine replied, “Sir, Mr. Obama is not President and doesn’t reside here”. The old man said, “Okay”, and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, “I would like to go in and meet with President Obama”. The Marine again told the man, “Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Obama is not President and doesn’t reside here”.

The man thanked him and again walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying “I would like to go in and meet with President Obama”. The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, “Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Obama. I’ve told you already several times that Mr. Obama is not the President and doesn’t reside here. Don’t you understand?”

The old man answered, “Oh, I understand you fine, I just love hearing your answer!”

The Marine then snapped to attention, saluted and said, “See you tomorrow, Sir.”

And this one from my NP guildmate, Rose:

To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine… and those who don’t.

As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.

In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) – the bacteria found in feces.

In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.

However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine and beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.

Remember:
Water = Poop,
Wine = Health.

Therefore, it’s better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I’m doing it as a public service.

Neo-bragging

I’ve really enjoyed playing Neopets again, they have the cutest little flash games. On days when I’ve come home tired and just need a little escape time, it’s been a welcome retreat. Of course, Jessie likes that I’m playing again because that means she gets to play on my account from time to time.

This morning I was doing my dailies and gained a very unexpected prize:

Sweet! Selling that paintbrush will help push me closer to one of my goals: a complete Lab map. I’ve only 4 more pieces to go. It’s (IMO) the best buy for anyone looking to up their pets’ stats (and appearance) with minimal effort.

Even better, I hit the Symol hole and gained an avatar there, along with a few NPs:

I’ve been playing nearly 6 years and had never hit either one of these … :mrgreen: Sweeeeeet!!

Fried pickle foolery

As a reward for helping him with his blog upgrade (read: snafu) last week, Jim took me out Saturday to my favorite restaurant, Cajun Steamer. I am absolutely enamored with their red beans and rice and my new favorite deep fried delicacy: fried pickles. I’ve tried those at several other places and IMO, nobody beats “the Steamer.” A close second would be the fried pickle spears at Porky’s Pride in Fultondale. (they have GREAT bbq!)

So yeah, I’m a fried pickle eating fool … maybe one of these days I’ll buy a deep fryer and start making my own. (I like ‘em spicy!)

Our internet has been doing going up and down for the last week or so, plus there’s been a lot of static on the line when we used the phone. This weekend we bought a new router (found that the old one was fine), several replacement splitters and panels for the phone connection in the living room (those were probably fine as well), replaced the phone line (well, that was probably needed), and finally found that when we unplugged the kitchen phone the static stopped and the internet connection seemed to stabilize.

Weird.

So with the internet connection back to somewhat normal, Jim was a happy camper and spent most of yesterday playing Conan. Me, I had a persistent headache — complete with nausea and dizziness, so I did a little cleaning, but spent most of the day lying in bed. Luckily, I don’t get these often. My migraine pain meds did little for the headache and because I was so nauseous, I didn’t eat (which usually just makes the headache worse). Ugh.

I seriously wouldn’t wish this upon anyone … except maybe the idiot neighbor who decided to let his dog yip for 6 freakin’ hours straight!

I don’t think I went to sleep until after 2 am this morning. Unfortunately the only things on tv at that hour are infomercials for anything from Proactiv acne cream to ‘magical’ body slimmers to Girls Gone Wild. Ugh. Lucky for me, Jim had just picked up a copy of last season’s The Closer dvd set, so I watched that instead.

So today I’m making a point to stay hopped up on caffeine just so I can stay awake. ;P

WordPress updated

It’s over with, and it wasn’t too painful. At least I remembered to update my WP-Config this time.

That said, I’ve been hearing horror stories from others who’ve tried to upgrade, so I guess I’m counting myself lucky. So far I’ve updated this site and BYKYC. I’ll most likely be doing the others later this week (or whenever time allows).

My darling Jim passed this gem to me and I know there are a couple readers here who’ve asked me if I knew of such a thing: WordPress Automatic Upgrade. The website says it’s compatible with the latest version of WP, but I have not yet had a chance to try it out myself. (may do so on a less ‘popular’ site, LOL!)

An update on things …

New Orleans was fun, but like all vacations it wasn’t long enough. Work has been absolute Hell lately, and the insurance company that we’ve been trying to settle with (remember my wreck, going on 2 months ago?) is giving us the run-around, so I’m stressing a bit more than usual.

To those who’ve asked about the Lunarpages WordPress Theme Design contest, no I didn’t win anything. But I am VERY grateful to those who voted for me! There’s been some speculation as to how the deciding votes (LP staff?) really came out, but in all honesty I’m just happy being nominated … for now. ;P

Speaking of theme designs, I’ve submitted a handful of mine to the new WordPress Theme Directory. So hopefully those will show up soon.

SA on the slow track …

I feel pretty bad that I haven’t gotten as much done on my Soldiers’ Angels stuff as I’d hoped. I am beginning to think that maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew in helping the warehouse/donations tracking, Walmart grants, all the websites, and even my own projects here for SA of Alabama. I’m feeling VERY overwhelmed, and frankly a little disappointed because the local response hasn’t gone as well as I’d been hoping.

There is a glimmer of hope though. A gentleman waved at me while stopped at a redlight last week and told me that he saw my bumper stickers (Soldiers’ Angels) and that he just had to thank me for supporting our soldiers. I’m not in SA for any kind of recognition or personal glory, but it IS nice feeling appreciated, and reminds me of why I want to do so much …

Geekery

About three weeks ago I heard from one of my old Neopets buddies, Rose. We talked for a bit and caught each other up on how our families were doing, and the usual. She nudged me about possibly re-joining Neopets, so on a whim I did. My character name this time around is BamaAngels so if you’re on, look me up!

(boy, what I wouldn’t give to have all that NP stuff I gave away, LOL!!!)

Also, I am now an active Editor for Addons.Mozilla.org again. I feel badly for neglecting those duties for so long, but am happy to say that I’m now back and trying to do a little each week to help out the AMO gang.

My budding writer

Jessie’s class has been learning to write essays over the past couple weeks. That girl loves to write and I’ve read several of her stories that she’s written on her own. She has a great imagination, and I told her that she should keep writing even if it’s just for fun. (after all, I got my poetry and for a short time did write several short stories and published two of them)

So far, for her assignments, she’s written about karate and cartoons — two subjects she knows very well. LOL! Her assignment this week has been to write a description 5 paragraph essay. She was showing it to me last night — she wrote about dogs. She mentioned that her teacher encouraged her to write about something else (as the majority of the class wrote about animals!), and she was stumped and out of ideas.

I named off several things that she knows well: her various video games (UT!!), Harry Potter, Webkinz (too much like animals she said), Neopets, … she rejected them all and I was running out of ideas. Looking over across the den, we have a box of wedding stuff waiting to go into storage. I suggest writing about her part in the wedding. No dice. My next suggestion: How about the honeymoon?

“Huh?” LOL, she gave me a puzzled look that made me laugh, “You know, Disney World?”

Her face lit up like the 4th of July. Eureka! I hit gold. :mrgreen:

She scrapped the paper she had previously written and started at once writing a new one. She let me read it just before bedtime last night and she wrote more about the hotel cafeteria and pool than the Disney World park itself. LOL!

Good thing we went there instead of the royal caribbean cruise I had been eying, hehe.

So my little budding writer was all happy and giddy when I left for work this morning. She was still talking about the paper she wrote last night and can’t wait for her teacher to read it.

That’s my girl! :cool:

Of health and gaming

One of my clients sent me this and I thought there may be someone who reads it here that may be interested:

My name is Susan Promislo and I am the communications officer for the Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Pioneer Portfolio supports innovative projects and ideas that may spur breakthrough improvements in the future of health and health care. One area we have increasingly been exploring is the connection between gaming and game technologies and health and health care — we recently launched a new national program to support research and analysis in this emerging area.

Health Games Research is an $8.25 million RWJF national program that supports outstanding research to enhance the quality and impact of interactive games used to improve health. The goal of the program is to advance the innovation, design, and effectiveness of health games and game technologies so that they help people improve their health-related behaviors and, as a result, achieve significantly better health outcomes.

Health Games Research is led by Dr. Debra Lieberman of the University of California, Santa Barbara and it has issued its first call for proposals – I have provided a summary of the program and current funding opportunity from Dr. Lieberman below. The application deadline is Jan. 29 and we’re hoping to stimulate as many high-quality proposals as possible; up to $2 million will be made in research grants during this round, and a second round of funding will be available in late 2008. I was hoping you might be willing to share word of this new program and CFP among members of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional information. I would be most grateful for any help you could provide in sharing this via ABMR networks and/or any other channels you think are appropriate.

Best wishes for a wonderful 2008, and sincere thanks for your assistance.

*******************************************

Susan Promislo
Communications Officer
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
609.627.7638
spromislo@rwjf.org

*******************************************

HEALTH GAMES RESEARCH

By now, I hope you have seen the announcement of the Health Games Research national program http://www.healthgamesresearch.org generously funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio. The program offers researchers from many fields and disciplines a great opportunity to conduct research in this emerging field, both to advance the design and effectiveness of health games and to provide an evidence base for decision-makers who buy, use, recommend, produce, or fund health games.

Here’s the Call for Proposals

http://www.rwjf.org/applications/solicited/cfp.jsp?ID=20001

for up to $200,000 in research funding. In two rounds of funding, the program will award up to $2 million in 2008 and also up to $2 million in 2009. Proposals for the first round are due January 29, 2008 (3:00 p.m. EST). The Call for Proposals provides details about eligibility and research areas.

On the web site http://www.healthgamesresearch.org you can (1) access the Call for Proposals, (2) read FAQs, (3) register for our applicant web conferences on December 13 (where we will present information about the grants program and answer questions), and (4) apply for a grant.

If the program’s web site, Call for Proposals, FAQs, and web conferences don’t answer your questions, you may submit questions to healthgamesresearch@rwjf.org and your e-mail will be forwarded to the appropriate staff member, who will send you answers.

Health Games Research has a national program office, which Dr. Debra Lieberman directs at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The RWJF funding will continue for 4.5 years until 2012. In addition to managing the grants program, the national program office at UCSB will develop a searchable online database of publications, research findings, organizations, experts, technologies, games, and other resources of interest to the field. Staff will also conduct studies of health games, create research tools, and issue reports and research briefs to summarize work in this field. And, they will work to convey the field’s research findings to a wide audience of decision-makers in medicine, health promotion, game publishing, technology and software, policymaking, government, academe, K-12 education, community leadership, etc., as well as invite and facilitate their participation, support, and research collaboration.

Games for Health http://www.gamesforhealth.org, led by Ben Sawyer, has also received funding from RWJF to work as a partner with the Health Games Research program to help build the field. Ben will convene regional and national meetings such as the popular annual Games for Health Conference, lead competitions, and lead online and offline forums to strengthen ties between the worlds of game development and health care. He will continue working to encourage and facilitate the development of high quality, well designed health games, bringing people and groups together and helping them find resources and opportunities.

Ben has already done so much to build the field, and this funding will help him boost and expand this great work.

For further information from RWJF about funding calls, publications, and news, you can sign up here http://www.rwjf.org/services/ to receive e-mail alerts.

I hope you will take a look at the Call for Proposals and, if eligible, consider submitting an application to Health Games Research in January.

Thanks!

On their website, I found the following key dates and deadlines:

• December 7, 2007 (3:00 p.m. EST) and December 13, 2007 (4:00 p.m. EST)—Applicant Web conference calls (optional). To register, please click on the registration link found in the right-hand column.
• January 29, 2008 (3:00 p.m. EST)—Deadline for receipt of proposals.
• May 1, 2008—Grant start date.
• May 6 – 7, 2008—Program annual meeting for grantees only, Baltimore, Maryland
• May 8 – 9, 2008—Games for Health Conference, Baltimore, Maryland

I’ve read my fair share of articles and previous studies of “good gaming” — or cases where gaming benefits the player in physical and/or mental aspects. Lord knows I’ve posted my fair share over at BYKYC.

It’s good to see that many of these studies are continuing!

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