xposted to other add communities.

Is this true with anyone else?

I have issues with compulsive, quasi-self-destructive habits. I used to be a hair puller, but managed to stop pulling from my head, so I'm able to hide the problem. I AM a compulsive skin picker. I always seem to have SOME habit. It's been worse lately than ever before. Previously, I could at least sit through a conversation with someone without pulling/picking, and I didn't do it when sitting in traffic...

This didn't come up with my psychiatrist when dxed with ADHD because it wasn't troubling me at the time. At the moment, I was just having trouble with nail biting, which isn't clinically significant. Now I chew my nails, but worse, I pick the skin UNDER my nails and pull it out, I peel my cuticles so that the area around my fingernails is raw. I actually clip the rough skin on my fingertips, with a nail clipper, and it's as hard as fingernails when it comes off. It's been worse since being in health care because I wash my hands constantly, which makes my fingers dry and perfect for picking/peeling. If there's a piece perfect for picking/peeling/chewing, I can't resist doing it.

Stimulant medication has been a godsend. I'm able to actually bring in money working, and finish tasks, and hold a covnersation.

But since being on stimulant medication, my compulsive habits have been so bad that all times when my hands aren't otherwise busy, I'm picking/pulling SOMETHING. I can't stop. When people tell me about it or not to do it, that triggers me to do it more. I don't know if it's the meds or if it's that I'm internalizing a lot of stress right now from my work situation (I work about eighty hours a week; very temporary situation which will be ending in about a month). I do it the worst when I'm around the people who point out that I do it! Saying "stop doing that" is the best way to keep me stuck doing it.Being around people closest to me is the biggest trigger for habits.

There's an oral component to my habits; when I don't chew on my fingers, I chew on my lip, and recently that's been so bad that my jaw is messed up.

My fingers look horrible. I want to be able to look presentable when I look for another job, which will be soon.

I HAVE had this issue before. I don't know if it's the meds that are doing it, because in the past, I've been triggered into major finger-chewing/lip-chewing stretches before and I WASN'T on meds. The only way I've really been able to stop the finger-chewing/picking in the past, was to wear acrylic nails - completely stops me from putting fingers in my mouth, plus for some reason it deters me from picking/peeling my cuticles and fingertips - but my partner (who has Asperger's Syndrome) is really repelled by the feel of fake nails. I've done lip-peeling too, but this is remedied by not letting my lips get dry enough to peel.

It could be partly a tactile issue, I can't stand the feeling of my hands when they're rough, hard or anything is uneven. Since having four home-health clients I am washing my hands or using alcohol gel CONSTANTLY.

xposted to other add communities.
Is this true with anyone else?

I have issues with compulsive, quasi-self-destructive habits. I used to be a hair puller, but managed to stop pulling from my head, so I'm able to hide the problem. I AM a compulsive skin picker. I always seem to have SOME habit. It's been worse lately than ever before. Previously, I could at least sit through a conversation with someone without pulling/picking, and I didn't do it when sitting in traffic...

This didn't come up with my psychiatrist when dxed with ADHD because it wasn't troubling me at the time. At the moment, I was just having trouble with nail biting, which isn't clinically significant. Now I chew my nails, but worse, I pick the skin UNDER my nails and pull it out, I peel my cuticles so that the area around my fingernails is raw. I actually clip the rough skin on my fingertips, with a nail clipper, and it's as hard as fingernails when it comes off. It's been worse since being in health care because I wash my hands constantly, which makes my fingers dry and perfect for picking/peeling. If there's a piece perfect for picking/peeling/chewing, I can't resist doing it.

Stimulant medication has been a godsend. I'm able to actually bring in money working, and finish tasks, and hold a covnersation.

But since being on stimulant medication, my compulsive habits have been so bad that all times when my hands aren't otherwise busy, I'm picking/pulling SOMETHING. I can't stop. When people tell me about it or not to do it, that triggers me to do it more. I don't know if it's the meds or if it's that I'm internalizing a lot of stress right now from my work situation (I work about eighty hours a week; very temporary situation which will be ending in about a month). I do it the worst when I'm around the people who point out that I do it! Saying "stop doing that" is the best way to keep me stuck doing it. Being around people closest to me is the biggest trigger for habits.

There's an oral component to my habits; when I don't chew on my fingers, I chew on my lip, and recently that's been so bad that my jaw is messed up.

My fingers look horrible. I want to be able to look presentable when I look for another job, which will be soon.

I HAVE had this issue before. I don't know if it's the meds that are doing it, because in the past, I've been triggered into major finger-chewing/lip-chewing stretches before and I WASN'T on meds. The only way I've really been able to stop the finger-chewing/picking in the past, was to wear acrylic nails - completely stops me from putting fingers in my mouth, plus for some reason it deters me from picking/peeling my cuticles and fingertips - but my partner (who has Asperger's Syndrome) is really repelled by the feel of fake nails. I've done lip-peeling too, but this is remedied by not letting my lips get dry enough to peel.

It could be partly a tactile issue, I can't stand the feeling of my hands when they're rough, hard or anything is uneven. Since having four home-health clients I am washing my hands or using alcohol gel CONSTANTLY.

When one cuts down trees on one's property in Portland, people show up to picket and protest.

Fine, I give in.

There's this whole July 4th underwear thingy going about LJ. SO you know what, behind the cut I'm participating, but of course I have to be different and have decided to wear a fundoshi (which can be considered underwear, I suppose). For those who aren't sure what that is, take a look here. And hey, I do have three other fundoshi at least lying about ... :: grin ::

( ... no, seriously, you've had proper warning so don't kvetch when you click this. )

I am ordinarily saddened by someone's death. The closer they are to me, of course, the greater the feelings of sadness. This is true for almost all of humanity. It's our nature. However, I tend to find a relief when some person dies who lived to make others' existence pure hell. When I read early this morning that Jesse Helms kicked the bucket, I was not truly overcome with joy. Rather, it was more disappointment. Disappointed that his croaking did not open a giant sucking vortex into his brand of hell taking with him all of his kind, crushing and mangling their bodies on the way. I'll just have to be content with just being rid of his stinking carcass.

The fact that he died on Independence Day is only icing on the cake.

But, anyway.

Hope y'all are having a great day, and are able to enjoy a nice long weekend.

Okay, apparently the reason I came to Portland was to make Jenice aware of the Alfred Hitchcock The Birds Barbie. When I told her about it, she insisted I find it online and show her. When I did, she shrieked, "Buy it!" and handed me her credit card.

Jesse Helms is dead and in Hell. Finally.

HBTY
HBTY
HBDwomanwhoisasindependentastheycomekdotdammit (and the country)
HBTY!

The reason for the holiday, let us not forget.

 So I have a really gross embarassing common wart on my index finger, which I have just started treating on my own with bandaids with salicylic acid, which was said to be most effective treatment. However I also just read this online:
 "It generally is recommended that salicylic acid not be used in diabetics or when there is poor circulation (because of concern about how normally the skin can heal".  
This stupid disease makes everything so frustrating. Anyway, my question is, if the most effective treatment is not safe for diabetics, what is the solution?

"Policy/procedure change and account suspension discussion" in lj_policy.


A reminder: the LJ Herald is not an official community. The information given here may be limited, susceptible to change or even erroneous.

Targeted and Transparent Is Right Combo for Online Ads Posted by Ann All on July 3, 2008 at 3:30 pm The primary pitch of companies that target online advertisements to consumers based on their Internet activities is telling us how much more we’ll appreciate — even enjoy — ads if they are relevant. I think this oversells the idea. In a post from January, I likened targeted advertising to anesthesia during non-elective surgery. Sure, it makes the process less painful, but don’t patronize me by trying to make it sound enjoyable. In another similarity to anesthesia, this kind of advertising makes us nervous because it’s invasive. It takes control away from us and gives it to some shadowy entity. (read the article)

Ann,

I'm the TechnoGeek that blew the whistle on NebuAd's under-the-hood protocol-forging cookie-forcing shenanigans. I just read your suggestion that Opt-In is the way to go with something like this.  Too bad they didn't listen to you.  Hey let's go into business together.  You rock!  There is a way to do this -- one that leaves the user in complete control of all of her or his data. 

Let's say that a user runs a program from Ann & Robb's SuperAdware and it monitors traffic for a while -- not all of the traffic, but just about 3-5% of it.  Nothing that would slow down the system.  Storing and processing a little at a time, without ever sending any of it anywhere, the results of the analysis are built and stored on the user's computer.  After a week or a month (user's choice), it prompts the user "SuperAdware has detected some of your interests. Click to learn more. No data will ever be sent to us without your permission, first."

SuperAdware then waits patiently, not ratting the user out to anyone until the user approves. When the user clicks, he reads that our program has discovered that he seems very interested in Ireland Travel, Live Concerts, and Lavender Curtains.  He can uncheck "Lavender Curtains" if he wants, or any or all of the marketing segments that were detected, and submit all or none of these categories.  "Hmmm... yeah, I actually have thought about Lavender Curtains but I never thought to search for them."  If he submits, he can see a page full of relevant ads right away, at any time later, or just as time goes on as the user encounter "our" ads that appear on web pages.  (We won't even need a database to store the user's interests, because the user's program will set, modify or clear "our" cookies -- again only with the user's permission.)

It's not only opt-in, the user has total control over which of his or her most private and personal thoughts ought to be shared.  Nothing other than the categories is ever sent.  The program (again, with notice and explicit permission) would have to download the current category list and some analysis code so that the on-computer analysis could take place.  That code, along with all of our code, will be Open Source.  Why?  Because we'll build consumer loyalty by trust!  The best code is not important if the users won't run it. 

What the heck would the Click-Through rate be then?  How much could -those- ads be worth?

And let's really be different.  Let's have a trusted consumer authority like the Underwriters Laboratory or the Consumers' Union choose a third lab to perform a double-blind test of all of our claims every 6 months.  No shill organizations.  We'll be the ad software that content sites recommend because they trust it, their advertisers trust it, and which truly returns value to the user.  Our program can even let the user know which of his favorite sites he helped support.  We'd have the certified ad program with no secrets and no broken promises -- the one that makes sense as it makes cents. We'd be the software that makes subscription websites turn free. The one that is actually un-installable, the one that does exactly and only what it says, the one that doesn't add its own pop-up ads nor interfere with anyone else's ads.

PS:  Marketers will tell me that such intelligence doesn't count if I'm aware that it's being gathered.  I call that bullpuckey -- the used car lot doesn't refuse to tell me about the great qualities of a car just because I happen to know that I'm interested in it.

PSS:  No, I'm not serious.  But this is an idea that anyone can steal.  Please, steal it.  If you make a Billion, I'd love it if you'd donate something to the Harmony Foundation.

--
Robb Topolski (robb@funchords.com)
Hillsboro, Oregon USA
http://www.funchords.com/

Tonight nytemarewulf and I went to a place in Peoria not too far away called "Sushi Popo" -- now this may be amusing to some as neither Carl nor I like sushi at all. Sorry sushi-lovers, but hey, it means there's more for you!!

We picked Sushi Popo because I was hoping for some Japanese dishes OUTSIDE of sushi, and I knew they also did different Chinese fare. I told Carl that we'd look at the menu posted outside and that if he didn't see anything he liked, we'd go elsewhere, but I KNEW I wanted to eat here just for ONE ITEM -- the black pepper beef.

I haven't had black pepper beef in YEARS -- it was at least a year or so before I moved to Peoria. Basically it's tender cuts of beef in a savoury sauce that contains a TON of crushed black pepper. Most people use only a little bit of pepper, but for me I LOVE the tingle in my mouth as I eat a mouthful of pepper, and this black pepper beef was just EXCELLENT. I had this dopey happy contented grin on my face as I just ate slowly and savoured each peppery bite. Oh yes, I'm having this again -- I was quite pleased -- quite a bit more than Carl with his twice-cooked pork, which he expected to burn his mouth and, alas, did not. Oh well, it was still good!!