Hey New Orleans,

I keep promising to post this, but then keep forgetting. tam's post helped remind me...
Our darling Jonesy is coming to nola for a giant chemistry conference in April (I think it's April). So, here's her email. If you live there, and would like to see her, I know she'd love to see you.
call.me.jones at g mail dot com. --or you can send me your email address and I'll forward it on to her.
love,
charlz

On food and body.

So, I'm losing weight relatively quickly now, I think. My clothes are fitting differently, all of a sudden. It's not abnormal for my body to change fast. Especially since my car has been broken down, so I walk a LOT more (I probably walked about three miles yesterday, which was really really nice... I just walked to buses instead of transferring). And I have less time, because of the longer times in transit. So, I'm not eating. 
I guess this would be fine. Except that I'm a pig. I love to eat. And I love to eat a lot. I mean, I have "indulge." tattooed in my mouth, for fuck's sake. It bums me out when I really like something, and I have a lot of it, but I get full really fast because my body is just not used to taking on food.
Just now, I made myself "lunch."  It's 2:30 in the afternoon, and I hadn't eaten yet today (this is pretty much standard, now... not that unusual, anyway, throughout my life and many other's I'm sure). I made a bowl of white rice mixed with that Trader Joe's "Indian Fare" Palaak Paneer, which looks kinda like baby poop with cheese cubes in it. Delicious. And fast. And I could only eat HALF of a BOWL of food. I'm stuffed!
Who the hell am I??
The weight loss is not something that makes me happy, either.  I like my body right now. I've been quit smoking for almost a year and a half, so I realize it might be time for my body to settle into wherever it "naturally" wants to be. But I don't want it to be smaller! I could use a wardrobe overhaul, but I don't want to go through that again. And if I do, I want to shop for this body. I wanna dress curves, god damnit. I feel like the rest of my body finally grew into my ass, and I LIKE it. I feel healthy and energetic (aside from being sick for the last two weeks, that is).
Wah.

post-a-thon 2008. I need price advice.

Ok, so... I'm going to house/pet sit for some strangers in a couple weeks. He asked me to think about compensation before we meet on Tuesday, and I don't really know what to ask for.
They have one little dog, and three cats, and live close to my neighborhood. I will be gone gone gone in school all day for two of the days, and it's four nights staying there.
I think standard is like 30 bucks a day?
I don't know? I was thinking twenty??
I'm not good at asking for money/compensation.
Any advice is appreciated from those of you who have pets and have hired anyone to take care of them.
Thanks