If you're a Discovery Channel fan, you might enjoy this version, filmed while the DC was promoting its shows to potential advertisers:

If you live in Massachusetts, call your state representative at 617-722-2000. Ask to be directed to your representative based on your zip code. Urge your representative to support this historic legislation.

You can also attend the hearing in Boston on Tuesday, March 25 at 2:00 p.m. It will be at the State House in Room A-2.

If you don't live in Massachusetts, forward this info to anyone you know who does.

Currently, only Michigan, Washington DC, Madison (WI), Santa Cruz (CA), and San Francisco have laws on the books protecting people against size discrimination. You have the chance to make a difference!

At one this afternoon, I dropped my son off at the park and rec center up the road for a Mad Science class. I saw that Blood Source, the local blood bank, was having a blood drive at the rec center. It's probably been 20 years or more since I've given blood. When I was young, I was a regular blood donor - but it's just one of those things that doesn't get done unless you make it a priority.

As four o'clock approached and it was time to go pick Morgan up, I thought about my options. Given my sudden drop in income, I thought could come back home and log in more inventory for eBay or else write a couple of articles for another client. Then I thought that, instead, what I should do is give blood. It wasn't an entirely altruistic decision, although I'm aware that the need for blood donations is great. I made the decision because, when I'm feeling down, doing some kind of "good deed" makes me feel better. Plus, I thought it would set a good example for my son and get him interested in becoming a blood donor when he got older.

I picked Morgan up from class and walked over to the rec center's ballroom, where the blood drive was taking place. The volunteers who greeted us were warm and friendly, and they expressed concern over the possibility of not having a blood drive T-shirt that would fit me. Although they were a bit flustered, I assured them that I wasn't there for the T-shirt. They had me fill out a card, then directed me to the ballroom, where there were several people waiting to have their information entered into the Blood Source database.

I waited for five or ten minutes, and then it was my turn to give the staff member my information and show him my driver's license. He entered all of my information into his notebook computer, printed out a long form with all of my information, and directed me to another waiting area, where I was to complete the questionnaire and wait to be called.

The questions on a blood donor questionnaire are extremely personal and very involved, but I certainly understood the need to keep the blood supply safe, and so happily answered questions ranging from prescription drugs to my sexual habits, from my travels out of the U.S. to my tattooing habits. I waited another 20 minutes or so until it was my turn to meet with another staff member. She went over my questionnaire, asked for clarification on a couple of questions, took my pulse and temperature, and drew a tiny blood sample to ensure I had enough iron in my blood. She then directed me to a reclining seat and told me that someone would take my blood donation.

By this time I'd been there close to 45 minutes, and had had interactions with three volunteers and two staff members. My son was patiently waiting at the kid's table - not too much of a burden since he got to sample the ice cream and cookies that Blood Source provides to blood donors after their donations.

Although the reclining seat was a bit elevated off the ground and I couldn't figure out how to get the armrests to adjust outward, I did manage to perch myself on the chair. The woman who was to draw my blood came up to me and told me that she thought my weight exceeded the weight limit of the chair, and that she'd have to talk to her supervisor. In the meantime, she told me to wait while she finished up another person's blood donation.

I sat there feeling a little bit stunned for another five minutes or so. When she returned and apologized for having to bring this topic up, I assured her that I knew I was a fat woman, and had had more than one experience with equipment weight limits. I said that the seat actually felt quite sturdy, and that I was confident that it wouldn't be a problem.

She then proceeded to take my blood pressure, but was clearly put off by having to get a larger blood pressure cuff and - god forbid - having to adjust the armrest so my arm was positioned conveniently for her. I suggested that, if the seat was problematic, I could go grab one of the banquet chairs that were set up for those waiting to have their information entered into the computer and those waiting to have their questionnaires reviewed. She said that it simply wouldn't work because she needed the armrest. I suggested that I pull the chair up to the armrest so she could use it. She just walked away.

Momentarily, the supervisor appeared at my other side and said that she couldn't allow me to sit there because I was over the recommended weight limit for the chair. Because I couldn't sit there, she couldn't allow me to donate blood. She did say, however, that she would be happy to give me a list of their "satellite offices," so that I could go there and donate blood - but not today, because they were closed.

To say I was angry would be an understatement. I was seeing red. First, I was enraged because their blood drive wasn't accessible to supersize people who wanted to donate. Second, I was mad because they were so inflexible when there was such an obvious workaround available. Third, it ticked me off that, throughout my encounters with five Blood Source volunteers and staff members over a 45-minute period of time, not one of them mentioned that drawing blood might be problematic. Fourth, I was angry because I felt, once again, like a second-class citizen because of my size. And, fifth, I was mad because I believed Blood Source when they said they needed donations. Now, I can only conclude that they only need donations that are convenient to collect.

It makes me mad that I wanted to help and that I was turned away because of my size. It makes me sad to think that, somewhere in Sacramento County (or wherever the blood ends up going), someone may soon be in desperate need of a lifesaving pint of blood that won't be there - simply because Blood Source only accepts donors who fit into their chairs.

Update 7/23/07: I spoke to a Blood Source representative, who said that they have had several meetings and discussions about having chairs manufactured with weight limits of 500 pounds, which they can use for mobile blood drives. She also indicated that they are developing procedures to ensure that my experience isn't repeated. I give them enormous credit for taking action and hope that they can quickly implement a workable solution.

For the past several years, he has donated 25% of his allowance to Heifer International. This is an organization that helps lift people out of poverty by providing them with farm animals and teaching them animal husbandry skills. They help people here in the United States, but their projects also span the globe.

In Peru, for example, poor farmers are being forced to move to higher elevations to farm. The soil at these higher elevations is very fragile and not very fertile. Traditional grazing animals, such as cattle, damage the soil with their hooves and eat too much of the grass helps hold the soil together.

Heifer International will give a poor Peruvian farmer a llama. Llamas have soft hooves that do not damage the soil, and they nibble at the grass without destroying it. The farmer can use the llama as a pack animal, can use the llama's wool to weave cloth, and can use the llama's dung to fertilize the soil and produce better crops. A single animal can make a huge difference in a family's life.

Part of the Heifer International agreement is that, when that llama is bred and has offspring, the farmer must give the baby llama to another poor family, so that they, too, can begin to improve their lives. In this way, whole communities are lifted out of poverty.

I have personally supported Heifer International for many years, and I'm proud that Morgan is trying to raise $5,000 for the organization by the end of this year. He has enlisted family, friends, neighbors, and the students at his school to help him reach his goal. He's given presentations at student assemblies, and has a big chart hanging up in the multipurpose room at school to keep track of his progress.

I'm pasting in the letter that he sent to friends, family members, and neighbors. If you could find it within your heart to support this project, we would both be very appreciative.

Hi,

I don't know if you've ever heard of Heifer International, but it's an organization that donates animals to poor families around the world. Poor kids in some countries can't go to school because they have to help their parents get water, fetch firewood, and gather food. Something as simple as a farm animal can give a family milk, eggs, wool, or fertilizer to use and sell. This gives the kids the opportunity to go to school.

One of the best things about the families that receive animals is that they give the animals' babies to other families, to that those families can also have a better life. Heifer calls this "passing on the gift."

For three years, I've been using 25 percent of my allowance to buy animals for poor families from Heifer International. I've bought bunnies, bees, chicks, ducks, and geese.

Now, I want to give more, and I'm asking for your help. Could you make a donation to help me reach my goal of raising $5,000 for Heifer International by the end of 2006? It would mean a lot to me, but it would mean more to the kids who will be able to go to school because of your help.

You can make a donation in one of two ways. You can write a check to Heifer International and mail it to me at:

Morgan's Ark Project
P.O. Box 580698
Elk Grove, CA 95758

Or, you can make a credit card donation online. My Heifer International Registry is called morgans_ark. When you go online, you can choose the kind of animal you'd like to donate.

If you'd like to read more about the work that Heifer International does, you can go to their website.

Thanks so much for your help!

Love,
Morgan

But how do you find the containers? Well, you need a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and you need to log on to one of the many geocaching sites. I used www.geocaching.com . The GPS receiver uses the satellites in space to pinpoint your exact location on the earth. For geocaching, you need a GPS receiver that has software that will allow you to either download waypoints or to enter longitude and latitude information.

So, you log onto a geocaching site, enter in your home coordinates, and search for caches in your area. The GPS receiver I was using didn't allow me to download, so I had to enter in the longitude and latitude coordinates of the caches I wanted to visit. Each cache on the site I visited had a virtual logbook, and had descriptions and clues about finding it, as well as the coordinates. For example, one of the caches had a toy car theme, and the idea was to bring a toy car and take a toy car. Another had a "green" theme, so you had to leave something green in the container.

Once we had our list of the caches we wanted to find, we were off on our great adventure. I live in a suburban area, and I was surprised to discover that there are dozens of caches within a couple of miles of my house. Geocaching is a great activity for almost any mobility level; the geocaching site I used rated each cache by the difficulty of finding the cache and the difficulty of the terrain. We took the car, and let the GPS receiver guide us to the various caches. A couple were in parks, one was near a power transmission tower, and another was in an oasis of empty land accessible only by an easily-missed passageway between the fences of two houses. Each of the caches was where it was supposed to be, but each was cleverly camouflaged, so it really took some searching.

There's so much more to geocaching than I've described here, and I look forward to learning more about it and going on many more "treasure hunts." It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and it got us thinking about creating our own cache!

If I had a nickel for every time a plus-size woman chose to sit on a chaise rather than take a dip in the pool, chose to sit on the beach rather than splash in the ocean, or chose to stay indoors rather than snorkel, I'd be a wealthy woman. Sadly, the prospect of donning a swimsuit keeps far too many of us from enjoying all that summer has to offer.

It all boils down to our own self-judgment and the fear that others will judge us if we show up in a swimsuit and fully participate in summer.

The roots of our self-judgment lie in the tapes we play in our mind. Those tapes might come from comparing our bodies to those we see strutting on red carpets or in fashion magazine layouts. They may come from the insidious messages that Madison Avenue promotes - the ones that tell us that we simply don't measure up. They may come from put-downs made by family members or so-called friends. Whatever the genesis of the tapes, though, it's time to hit the rewind button. It's time to nurture self-acceptance and self-love through creating new messages. Take some time to think about all of the wonderful things about your body. Start small if you must.... Maybe you have a great smile, or your hair is full and shiny. But move beyond that, until you can appreciate your body's strength and it's curvaceous beauty. Once you do, you'll realize that wearing a swimsuit is something you and your body deserve.

As for the judgments of others, well, they very well may see us in swimsuits and think or say negative things. The truth is, though, that their judgments say a whole lot about whom they are as human beings, and say nothing at all about who we are. If we are strong in our belief that our bodies are strong and beautiful, the judgments of others won't affect us.

As for swimsuits, we've never had so many choices in styles and colors. Take the plunge and find one that makes you feel comfortable and attractive. Maybe you're not ready for a tankini - that's okay. A swimsuit with a flounce skirt or a tank suit with a pareo is absolutely fine. The only criteria you need to be concerned with is that you choose a swimsuit that you will wear.

After that, it's only a matter of taking action. I had a friend whose favorite saying was, "Be scared, and do it anyway." Going out in your swimsuit the first time may be very scary. But I'll bet a nickel you'll survive.... And that it'll be a little less scary your next time out. By the end of the summer, your inner mermaid will definitely be making a splash!

One of the current housemates, Jodi, is a plus-size woman who is strong, independent, and who has a successful career. She's uncomfortable with her weight, and has memories of being put on a scale and on a diet when she spent time with her father during her childhood summers. On one hand, Jodi is scale-averse, and on the other she wants to lose weight. Jodi's life coach has sent her to a nutritionist, who has put her on a weight loss eating plan.

Jodi was very vocal about not wanting to step on the scale. She initially refused, and discussed the reasons why with Dr. Stan, the consulting psychologist. After all, she said, it's only a number. Dr. Stan probed further, and implied that she was being resistant. Ultimately, on her trip to the nutritionist, Jodi consented to being weighed, but refused to look at the number herself. The next day, back at the house, Jodi weighed herself and looked at the number.

The argument for Jodi being weighed was that she needed to know from where she was starting so that she could measure her progress. She brought up a good point, which was that there were a number of ways to assess progress - such as body measurements - that didn't involve a scale. Eventually, though, she capitulated, and admitted to being resistant to the number.

This ongoing saga has led me to think about the scale. If anyone is scale-averse, it's me - but for different reasons. I'm not afraid of the number, and in fact do weigh myself a couple times a year. I strenuously object, though, to being weighed when it's not necessary. I routinely refuse to be weighed at the doctor's office, for example. In my mind, unless it's medically necessary, it just gives medical professionals one more reason to use weight as a smokescreen instead of treating my presenting symptoms.

I consented to being weighed when I was pregnant with my son (almost eleven years ago), though I'm convinced that didn't give them any usable information. As I recall, I gained 17 or 18 pounds during my pregnancy. Although they knew how much I weighed, it didn't seem to help my doctors prescribe proper amounts of antibiotics for a wound infection after my son was born - but that's another story.

The next time I was weighed in a medical setting was about a year ago, when I needed a CT scan and the scanner had a weight limit. It seemed reasonable to me that the doctor weigh me in order to see if she had to refer me to another facility (she didn't).

Like many plus-size women, I have childhood horror stories of being dragged onto the scale by my mother, and of being weighed at the doctor's office by a sadistic pediatrician who delighted in making a fat little girl feel like pond scum. So, I understand all about being scale-averse.

But I also understand about self-acceptance. Part of accepting oneself as a beautiful, powerful, plus-size woman is acknowledging the number and accepting it. That doesn't mean you're defined by that number, or that you should define yourself by that number. It also doesn't give anyone else license to demand that you step on a scale, unless there's a medically compelling reason to do so.

The bottom line is that, whatever the scale reads, it's just a number.

I need to give a tip of the hat to Jon Stewart. I'm a rabid fan, and I was incredibly nervous for him. I thought the taped pieces he and his team put together were brilliant - I loved the fake "political" ads - and felt like he held his own. Nobody can surpass Billy Crystal as Oscar host, of course, but it'll be interesting to see if Jon Stewart will be invited back next year.

There's another source of affordable plus-size clothing that many in our community have never tapped into - eBay. When I checked this morning, there were over 51,000 plus-size auctions listed in auction format on eBay. There are probably tens of thousands more listed in eBay Stores. For the uninitiated, eBay has both auctions and what they call "fixed price" listings, where you can buy something immediately - without having to bid or wait for an auction to end.

In the spirit of both full disclosure and to plug my business, I'm an eBay seller who specializing in affordable plus-size clothing from Making it Big. My eBay store contains over a thousand pieces of Making it Big plus and supersize clothing - some first quality, some production seconds, but all of it new. My buyers are wonderful women who appreciate that they can get great quality plus and supersize clothing at affordable prices.

If you've never perused eBay for plus-size clothing, I urge you to give it a try. I'm the first to admit that, if you're new to eBay, it can be a little overwhelming and intimidating at first. There is a bit of a learning curve, and you need to make sure you're buying from reliable sellers, but eBay has some great tutorials to get you started.

Even more exciting is a new site that eBay will launch this spring, which will be called eBay Express. This new site will give buyers a more traditional online shopping experience, where all of the items have a fixed price and where buyers will have a shopping cart. Buyers can make purchases from multiple sellers and go through a single checkout process. I haven't yet seen even a beta version of eBay Express, but the idea holds a lot of promise.

DALLAS, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognizing the numerous emotional moments that undoubtedly occur during the journey to the Olympic Winter Games, Kleenex(R) facial tissue and NBCOlympics.com announced the launch of an online destination designed especially for moms that will be active from Feb. 10 - 26.

The interactive website will serve as the meeting place for consumers eager to get a "mom's-eye-view" of the emotional stories, or Kleenex Moments(TM), associated with the unique relationship between mothers and their U.S. Olympic athletes.

The online destination will showcase three mothers of U.S. Olympic athletes who will provide regular anecdotes, updates and insights from Torino. The three mother-daughter pairs sharing their Kleenex Moments during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games are:

U.S. Olympic bobsledder Vonetta Flowers and her mother, Bobbie Jeffery;

U.S. Olympic speed skater Elli Ochowicz and her mother, Sheila Young-Ochowicz;

U.S. Olympic Hockey Team forward Kelly Stephens and her mother, Kristine Stephens.

"There are so many emotional stories in our lives that the cameras missed outside of the competition, which viewers never got to see," said Flowers. "This online 'scrap book' gives us a chance to share the entire journey leading up to, and during the Games to really illustrate the ups and downs an athlete and their mom's experience along the road to becoming a U.S. Olympian."

Along with providing an entry in their daily diaries each day, the moms will be the subject of a series of articles about the emotional journey to the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. These stories will focus on everything from the joy they share along the way to how they spend precious time together outside of training and competition.

Isn't that sweet???

Why do I love the Olympics? Perhaps it's my patriotic streak, but more likely it's my idealism. Forget the rumors of performance-enhancing drugs, forget the figure skating controversies, and forget the intrasport squabbling. Instead, think about the Olympic ideal - countries setting aside their differences and coming together to compete honestly and celebrate the unity of humanity and sport.

Although I love the Olympics, I also dream of an Olympics that's inclusive - one where plus-size women and big men could use their size to their advantage and compete. After all, very tall people have more than one Olympic sport - basketball and volleyball come to mind - in which they can excel. Short, slight people have gymnastics and people with other body types can choose from a variety of sporting endeavors.

There have been large men and women in the Olympics - there was weightlifter Cheryl Haworth in the 2000 Sydney Games, and Rulon Gardner, who retired from wrestling in 2004. We even have a plus size Olympian featured on the BBW site - Helena Blach Lavrsen, who won a silver medal in curling in the 1998 Games.

Still, what about the sports that would draw on our inherent talents? Think to the Summer Games, and to water polo. Let's face it - big women are unsurpassed when it comes to floating. I always shake my head in wonder when I see those thin athletes churning the water with their legs, trying to stay afloat. Put plus size women in the water polo competition, and our energy could be used for defense and offense, rather than for treading water.

Of course, I'm not withdrawing my support of these Winter Games because they're not inclusive. But that doesn't mean I can't have my own Olympic dreams.

Well, a new housemate has joined the Starting Over family. Christie has lost 100+ after gastric bypass surgery, and her goal is to learn to love herself. In yesterday's episode, Christie's life coach, Rhonda Britton was startlingly - and refreshingly - frank about weight loss surgery. First, she pointed out that weight loss surgery has a high mortality rate. That, in itself, made me sit up and take notice. Then she had Christie perform a very interesting exercise that I think it a good lesson to plus-size women everywhere.

Rhonda took cotton batting and Ace bandages, and wrapped Christie's arms, legs, neck, and torso. The effect of the padding was that Christie looked larger than she is today, and reminded Christie of her pre-surgery body. Then, Rhonda had Christie name all of the issues she thought that gastric bypass would solve. As Christie listed the various issues - anger toward her parents, addictions, feeling unloved - Rhonda wrote them on the bandages. Rhonda's point? That Christie thought that by changing her outward appearance through weight loss surgery, all of her inner problems would be solved. It turns out, of course, that Christie has all of the same problems she had when she was much larger.

I think the lesson for all of us is that we all too often fall into the trap of thinking that all of our problems would be solved if only we were thinner. That's the message we're bombarded with from the media and the diet industry, and it's an empty promise we all too often fall for. It was refreshing to see Starting Over address that issue in a way that made sense.

The other topic I want to revisit is my mention (in my January 15 entry) of Consumer Reports coverage of weight loss surgery. I've now had the opportunity to read the article, and it's left me more incredulous than ever. Consumer Reports calls weight loss surgery a "reliable solution" to making "fat people thin." It describes two procedures, gastric bypass and adjustable gastric banding. It then reports that after two years, "the average gastric bypass patient had a BMI [body mass index] of 30." Um, a BMI of 30 means that a person is still "clinically obese."

The article also says that, "Surgery dramatically improves, or cures, [diabetes, glucose intolerance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, degenerative arthritis]. It is not uncommon for type 2 diabetics to go off insulin for good the day after bypass surgery...." Huh? If someone weighs 300 pounds the day of surgery, there's a good chance they weigh 300 pounds the day after surgery. Why do they need insulin the day of surgery but don't need it the day after, if their weight is the same?

But I'm getting sidetracked. The article reported that, "the risk of dying during or shortly after the operation is low and getting lower - about 1 percent for bypass and 1/2 percent for banding when done by an experienced bariatric surgeon." Let's set aside the fact that many of these surgeries are performed by surgeons inexperienced in bariatric surgery, and look at the 1 percent mortality rate. This is Consumer Reports. Would Consumer Reports give a glowing review to a car manufacturer that built 500,000 automobiles, out of which only 5,000 (1 percent) blew up? Or to an appliance maker that had only 5,000 (1 percent) out of 500,000 coffee makers cause kitchen fires? Highly doubtful. So, I remain perplexed as to why Consumer Reports would advocate on behalf of an elective surgery that has a 1 percent mortality rate.

It's no doubt that the over the counter drug, to be called Alli, will be ultimately approved by the FDA, since they usually rubber stamp the recommendations of advisory committees when it comes to diet pills (remember Redux?).

According to the CNN article, the over the counter version would be about half as potent as it's prescription counterpart. Raise your hand if you think that people, desperate for a "magic pill," will take only the recommended dosage. I don't think so, either.

With a cost of $12 to $25 a week, GlaxoSmithKline stands to rake in $1.5 billion a year in retail sales of Alli. Yes, that's billion with a "b".

Let's see.... In clinical trials over a six-month timeframe, people who took the drug lost 5.3 to 6.2 pounds more than those who took a placebo (in conjunction with diet and exercise, of course). Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that the over the counter pill will cost $12 a week (the lowest price point) and that the average person will lose 6.2 pounds in six months (the most optimistic outcome attributable to the drug, based on clinical trials). Six months is 26 weeks, times $12. That's $312 dollars (or $625 if you go with the highest price point). Divide the number of pounds lost into $312, and that's $50.32 per pound (or $100.80 for the high price point).

So, the FDA thinks that it's wise for consumers to pay between $50 and $100 to lose one pound, even though all admit that, once someone stops taking the drug, they gain all the weight they lost.

But, again, this is the same FDA that thought Redux - which harmed or killed untold numbers of people who wanted to lose weight - was the best thing since sliced bread, despite research to the contrary.

At what point will this governmental agency, charged with protecting the American public, actually start doing its job?