I have the following things to say:

1) Congrats to Juliana and M! Welcome, Peanut.

2) I stinking love you people. Smart, funny people. Yes.

3) Hibernation brain is fully upon me, where all I want to do is sleep and eat. Why can't those be the things that are good for me and earn me money? Why do I have to work and exercise and eat healthy and stuff? Whyyyyyyyy?

That's enough numbers. brenda, I'm so sorry. I have an uncle who has serious heart problems because of Agent Orange. The ill effects of war go on forever, it seems.

Why do I have to work and exercise and eat healthy and stuff? Whyyyyyyyy?

YES. And why do I not just want to eat healthy? Why do I go "mmmm" to all the things that are not healthy?? Other than maybe clementines, which I could eat my body weight in.

And, I just worked out with a trainer, and "Bulgarian split squats" are about as evil as they sound. I wonder if they're named just to sound evil. They're probably not Bulgarian at all. Someone just came up with that shit during the cold war to torture folks in gyms.

In the "eat healthy" vein, I am looking for tools to combat the dreaded middle-aged metabolism slowdown and seek recommendations for a food tracker/calorie counter app for iphone, ideally one that lets me put in recipes, too. Did people see this article in the New York Times about the guy who tracks his eating and has done for like 5 years and lost over 150 pounds? That sort of inspired me, although the way that guy eats would not work for me at all (he's sort of paleo with ridiculous sweets binges - it was fascinating to see a detailed diary of everything someone else eats.)

Brenda, I'm sorry to hear about your uncle.

If they eat black widows I will make friends with them.

flea, I rather like My Fitness Pal [link] for their food tracking, recipe putting-in, capacity.

Welcome Alexandra D! So happy for the whole family!

I went ahead and googled your spidey friend, bt. I am on board with extermination, would not want that by my front door. Daddy long legs, on the other hand, I have always held a soft spot for them. First spider to get me over my considerable fear of them (although I should note that I still hold firmly onto my fear of *some* of them!).

Due to moving, I fell off the healthy eating wagon and have not yet managed to climb back on it fully, which really needs to happen.

Rationally, I know that if I get more sleep, my cravings for bad things are greatly reduced and therefore the best thing I can do for me health is sleep more.

Edit: "Me health". Me Cookie Monster?

On the healthy eating front, I find I eat better overall if I don't worry about calories and just try to be mindful of what I eat. Which, since I keep reading about the studies that suggest middle aged adults should eat less protein and animal fats, means that my meals end up vegetarian or vegan by default.

Wait, what is it that you call daddy long-legs in Australia? Because the ones we have in America have bodies the size of small peas and no fangs, claws, venom, or any other weapons with which to kill and eat prey. basically their only tactical strategy is clumping together in big hairy masses that gross out anything that happens across them.

Ah, well, there are three different families of invertebrates that get called daddy long-legs by someone somewhere. There's the crane fly. Then there's the harvestman, which sounds like what you mean by it: [link] Then there are the cellar spiders: [link] Those are the ones we mean here in Australia, and the ones that eat redbacks.

Like Matt said, I'm concerned about the size. I won't be able to unsee that.

Similar size to black widows too. Really, very closely related. Venom's about the same too. This is one area where Australia is no worse off than you guys. (The Sydney funnelweb, on the other hand...)

There are two key differences. First, red stripe on their back as well as the abdomen. Makes them easier to identify. Second, they're if anything more widowish. Not only does the female eat the male, but the males will actively cooperate in their own demise, and fight each other for the privilege.

There's another relative from New Zealand, the katipo. Katipos and redbacks are close enough to interbreed. More precisely, male redbacks can breed with female katipos. But male katipos can't interbreed with female redbacks. They're too heavy. The female automatically sees them as prey and eats them before they can get close enough.

bt, has the Australian Tourist Board considered putting together an area of your country as Certified Drop Bear And Horrifying Insect Free (Snakes And Crocs Optional)? Though that might encourage visits from people less tough-willed than Australia wants to allow.

They have! It's called Customs. After that you're on your own.

They have! It's called Customs. After that you're on your own.

Well, if they set up a pool and a hotel, I'm there.

There's nothing worse than when you have more black bile than spleen.

Right? I'm used to the phlegm and blood being all out of whack, but unbalanced bile just messes me up.

I think cellar spiders are what I have, and what I picture when I think of Daddy Long-legs.

I use MyNetDiary for tracking food (when I track food, which I haven't and should really start again although that conflicts (sort of, not really) with my desire to just eat takeout until I get my kitchen cleaned top to bottom and arranged the way I want it), it let's you put in recipes, has an iPhone app. I somehow ended up with a premium package (one of them, there are several tiers) but i can't remember why, so I'm not sure what you can and cannot do with the free version. The one I have is, you know, fine, it does what I want it to, I don't know that there's anything to really recommend it over any other similar thing, though.

Kinda want a Marvel Redback costume for next Halloween.