My Talk Carolina About Us Page

This is an About Us Page that I re-wrote for MyTalkCarolina.com. The administrator gave me his draft and told me to have it, so I did.

MTC About Us Page:

So what is MyTalkCarolina.com? What are we all about? Keep on reading, and I’ll give you (or y’all, depending on what part of the states you’re in) all a little bit of history about who we are and what do.

MyTalkCarolina.com started off from a lot of different sites that I used to own… well… I still own, but they’re pointed to a different domain. Coast2coast-info.com was the first website that I started off with but was unsuccessful. The second website I started with a buddy of mine called stringdat-lax.net, which is now owned by yours truly- me. It was a lacrosse sports website that was never paid attention to, therefore, not really all that successful. Last was metroconnections.net- I really liked the name and had several friends to help me out. It was popular, at the time, but decided to bring it down and start what we have now- MyTalkCarolina.com. They say with each new thing, you learn something and this is what I’ve learned. With each website MyTalkCarolina.com is the HUB of all the domains I owned.

MyTalkCarolina.com has several thousand members with people signing up daily. We discuss everything from politics to family, recipes to pet care. MyTalkCarolina.com is designed for those that live in North and South Carolina, but we welcome anyone and everyone to sign up, stop by, and say hello or a, “What’s up y’all?”

So sit back and enjoy the ride because at MyTalkCarolina.com, that’s how we roll.

Freelance Project

I got to add another freelance writing project to my "writing resume." It's a company called "myhappyad," and what they do (what Josh told me) is that if you're on MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or one of those sites, myhappyad puts advertisements up that they think you'll be interested in, in hopes that you'll click on it and drive business to advertising companies. They track what you like and may be interested in and put up the appropriate advertising ads for you. I've already re-written the "About Us" section of the website- now I'm working on advertisers, publishers, and such.

I've decided to go ahead and do the re-writes.. that way I'm ahead of schedule.

Strawberry Pie Recipe

This pie is made of a graham cracker crust and a great substitute when I'm craving Backyard Burgers' strawberry cobbler.

The crust:

9 graham crackers pulsed into crumbs or 1 1/2 cup of graham cracker crumbs
3T sugar
5T melted butter

Mix together and press into a 9-inch pie pan or 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

The filling:

2 cups of strawberries
1/2 cup sugar

Put the berries and sugar in the food processor and pulse until it's a puree.
Transfer to a pot and cook on medium heat with:

1/4t of salt and 2T cornstarch

Cook mixture for about 5 minutes until the taste of the cornstarch is gone, and the mixture has a custard appearance to it. Stir it constantly.

The topping:

4 cups of strawberries
3T strawberry preserves or orange marmelade, melted

Coat with berries with the melt preserves or marmelade to give the berries a shiny appearance.

Pour the filling into the crust and top with the strawberries. Gently push the berries into the custard.

Cover the pie and put it in the refrigerator to set up anywhere from 2-3 hours to a day.

Bon Appetit!!

What Is Sjogrens Disease?

What is Sjogren’s Syndrome?

Sjogrens Syndrome (pronounced SHOW-grins) is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own moisture glands. This disease can affect as many as four million Americans and affects nine out of ten women. The average age of Sjogrens is late 40s, although it can occur in all age groups in men and women.

What are the Symptoms?
The main symptoms of Sjogrens Syndrome is dry mouth and dry eyes (known as Sicca Syndrome) but may, also, cause dryness in the organs such as the central nervous system, the GI tract, the blood vessels, the kidneys, lungs, and the liver. Other symptoms include dry nose, trouble speaking, a change in the sense of smell or taste, dry skin, and fatigue.

Who treats Sjogrens?
Rheumatologists generally treat Sjogrens. Ophthalmologists and dentists are, also, highly qualified to treat Sjogrens.

How easy is it to diagnose Sjogrens?
Sjogrens Syndrome is often misdiagnosed or under diagnosed because the symptoms mimic other systemic diseases such as Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Multiple Sclerosis (MS). But because all of the symptoms do not come up at once, doctors will often treat one symptom at a time and do not recognize a systemic disease is present.

If Sjogrens is suspected, your doctor may run blood tests to determine if you have high levels of antibodies that are indicative of the disease, such as anti-nuclear antibody and rheumatoid factor (Sjogrens frequently occurs secondary to RA).

A Schirmer’s Test can be done by your ophthalmologist to determine if the dryness in your eyes is caused by Sjogrens. A Schirmer’s Test measures to see how much tear film you have. This is conducted by the technician putting an anesthetic drop into your eyes and inserting little strips of paper that have numbers edged into them. She will have you close your eyes for five minutes. After five minutes has passed, she will pull the inserts out and record the amount of moisture you have. If the moisture in your eyes is 5mm or less, then there is the possibility that you may have Sjogrens

Treatment:
Many symptoms of Sjogrens can be treated with over-the-counter medications such as preservative-free artificial tears, artificial salivas, vaginal lubricants, nasal sprays, and unscented body lotions. Prescription meds may include Lacriserts or Restasis, which is used to give relief for dry eyes. Salagen and Evoxac are available to treat dry mouth. Depending on severity, your doctor may recommend non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or immunosuppressive drugs. Some other, non-medicine remedies are to get a humidifier and to wear eye protective googles.

How to Cook a Steak

I used to always get my steak cooked well-done, I wanted no fat on my steak, and I wanted A1 sauce to go with it. It wasn't until I went to eat at a well known steakhouse, that I learned some things about the way steak is cooked.

1. The longer you cook a steak, the less nutritional value it has. Also if you go to a steakhouse and have it cooked well done, they will more than likely give you a steak that is less quality than someone who orders their steak medium rare.

2. Fat gives the steak flavor, so leave it on there.

3. If you have a really good, well seasoned steak, you don't need A1.

SEASONINGS:
You never want your seasonings or marinade to overpower the steak. Sometimes it's as simple as salt and pepper and sometimes it's as simple as a dry rub. A dry rub that I've come up with is chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, salt and pepper. I mix them together and put the dry rub on both sides, just enough to give the steak flavor. Marinades are good as well, but again, I only put enough on the steak to give it flavor.

"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR STEAK COOKED?"
So now you have your seasoned steak ready to cook, but how? There are five ways to cook a steak by either frying, broiling, or grilling.

Rare: The steak should be lightly charred on the sides and should be bright pink through most of the steak. This steak needs to be cooked on high heat for a minute on both sides. The internal temperature of this steak is 50-55 degrees Celsius.

Medium Rare: The steak should be charred on all sides with a hint of red, but the center should still be pink. The surface should be firm to the touch but still has some give in the center. The internal temperature of this steak is 55-57 degrees Celsius. This steak should be cooked on high heat for 2-3 minutes on each side. Any gourmet chef will tell you this is the way a steak should really be cooked.

Medium: The steak should have a thick pink center but be more browned than pink. The steak should, also, still have some play in the middle but be firm. The internal temperature of this steak is 60-65 degrees Celsius and should be cooked over medium heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

Medium well: The steak will be brown all the way through with the slightest hint of pink. This steak needs to be cooked on high heat for a minute (the central part of your grill), and then cooked on medium heat (the side of your grill) for about 5-6 minutes on each side.

Well done: The steak will be brown all the way through with no hint of pink but should not be burnt. The steak is firm all the way through with no give if you press on it. This is by far the hardest steak to cook because you don't want to burn it. The steak needs to be cooked low and slow to prevent this; cooked on medium heat 10-12 minutes on each side. The internal temperature of this steak is 77< degrees Celsius.

You've taken your perfectly cooked steak off the heat; now what? I bet you want to cut right into it and eat it, right? WRONG! Never, never cut into a steak that has just been taken off the heat. The reason being is if you cut into a steak too soon, the wonderful, flavoring juices that should be redistributing through the steak is going to go all over the plate, and the meat will be tough. The rule is to wait 5 minutes before cutting into a steak, so you give the juices time.

Trust me, your mouth will thank you! Bon apptit!

Assessing Sexism in Gaming: Is It Still a Boy's World?

When I was little, the Easter Bunny gave me a Gameboy. I played games such as Tetris, Super Mario World, even a baseball game that I was really good at. I pretty much played my Gameboy until the screen cracked, and I had to get rid of it.

It wasn't until I got engaged that I started getting back into gaming; this time graduating to the original Playstation and this time playing Crash Bandicoot and Grand Theft Auto. I played those games so much that I had them memorized; had every secret unlocked on Crash and knew exactly how to turn my car so that I wouldn't run into a fence. Playing Playstation was so much fun and made the time pass by when I was bored, but I still wasn't into gaming like I am today.

A couple of years ago, I bought a Playstation 2, still playing every Crash Bandicoot game that I could get my hands on. I bought and played Guitar Hero 2 when it was originally made for Playstation 2; the same goes for Hot Shots Golf 3.

That still wasn't enough, and soon, my husband bought an Xbox 360 Elite, and I bought a Nintendo DS. This is where my gaming skills start to really improve, and I start to play more than most girls my age ever thought about playing. The Xbox 360 games range from Condemned (think Silent Hill-scary) to Burnout Paradise to Acme Arsenal to Rockband (all of which I have played). My DS games range from Brain Age to Word Coach: French to Sims to Yoshi.

So as far as assessing sexism in gaming: Is it still a boy's world? No. Are about sixty percent of the games, regardless of the system, targeted towards teenage boys and young men? Yes, BUT that doesn't mean that all teenage boys and men are the only ones that play the games or that they're the only ones that gaming industries want to play the games. Gaming industries know boys are more likely to play because they know women think gaming is for boys, but the industries are trying to change that thought process.

On Xbox you can purchase Xbox Live cards; these cards let you play online with other players in other states and even other countries. My husband plays with a lot of guys from his work but also plays with a lot of girls in other states and, at least, one in another country (No it doesn't bother me). These girls play games like Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty 3, Gears of War, Halo 3, Bioshock, and the list goes on. These girls not only play but have beat the games on expert while still playing "girlie" games.

There's even an online group called The Gamer Chix. They get together every week to play a different game and invite girls from everywhere to play. When you're in the room with these ladies, there is no trash talk, no put downs, no negativity; just girls having fun, boosting each other up, playing video games.

If non-gaming women think it's still a boy's world, it's because women think it's a boy's world. A lot of women are too scared to even try to play. For whatever reason I don't know; either they're scared of getting embarrassed, afraid they might enjoy it, and/or afraid of what other women will think about them. I once had a girl tell my friends (in front of me), "Every time I talk to Amanda, she's playing a video game. I mean, seriously, how old is she?" Needless to say, she's not my friend anymore.

In conclusion, more than half of the games are targeted towards males, BUT if we can play a shoot-'em-up game and pretend it's our boss or significant other, then we're going to play it. We're going to play just as well, if not better, than boys. So watch out, the Gamer Chix are coming to get ya!

New Update.

It's been a long time since I've blogged here, but here I am... keeping my word about what's going on with my writing and such.

My freelance career is starting off slow, but I'd much rather have it start out slow than not at all. I know that I'm not going to be able to quit the eye business on Monday, and I'm okay with that. But writing is something I've wanted to do since I was a teenager. Writing comes natural to me, and it's something I am passionate about, and for that- I'll gladly wait my turn to be a permanent stay-at-home writer.

So what's new in the writing world of Amanda??

Well right now I'm working on my first Grant Writing project in ophthalmology (eyes). I have never done grant writing before (yes the guy knows this), but I'm strong in ophthalmology so he's letting me take the project on. We're working together-- he's doing the research, and when the time comes, I'm doing the writing. I've bought a Grant Writing book and have been very dependent on my wonderful cousin who is experienced in research and grant writing--- THANK YOU JESSICA!! Every email that is sent, I forward to her for her professional opinion.

I've also been in contact with someone about re-writing 25 articles twice, and that looks promising.

I'm really strong in the medical field- obviously-so I think writing and re-writing medical articles is going to be my strong suit and a strong start to my freelance career, which is fine with me. Everyone needs to start somewhere.

I have also been working on another book-- this one a little darker than the first one, actually, it's a lot darker than the first one. LOL...

So that's what's going on with the writing world of me. Now that I know how to blog on "blogger" correctly, I'll post more often.

Love to all.