Wacky Wednesday Hodge Podge

A little bit of lots of unrelated stuff today, hence the title!  The ALI Blogroll, a fun online find, an annoying lunch yesterday, a crazy workout and nothing much else new here...

The ALI Blogroll (otherwise known as The Stirrup Queen's Completely Anal List of Blogs That Proves That She Really Missed Her Calling as a Personal Organizer)
As of this week, I've officially been added to the ALI Blogroll!  Given all of the support we've received recently from our online friends (honestly, probably more so than from our real life friends!), I'm so excited to be able to (maybe, hopefully) give some of that back in return by being easier to find (for starters, anyway)!

Fun Online Find
Every once in awhile I dabble in photoediting, creating online signatures, etc.  I'd love to have one of the more advanced versions of Photoshop (the one on my computer is archaic), but they're so crazy expensive!  A few months ago, I was playing around with Gimp.  It's a pretty cool open source (read: FREE) photo editing software package that definitely rivals Photoshop.  I had two problems with it, though.  First of all, it's insanely large and tended to crash my computer.  Second, so much in the way of online tutorials is written for Photoshop that it was a bit frustrating. 

Today, I came across a new fun find in a genre that I didn't even know existed before today.  Turns out there is now pretty substantial online photo editing "software."  I'm not talking the "lite" versions like in photobucket or flickr.  There are online versions complete with layers and effects capability.  I haven't had much time to play around with it, but it looks very cool.  Here's Aviary! 

And, just for laughs...Aviary Launches Crane.  Hope that made someone else laugh, too.  I know I got a good giggle out of it! :-)

Lunch Yesterday
So, I had a lunch yesterday with my department (which includes my 5 months, first try preggo boss).  I just had a funny feeling there'd be preggo talk, but I was pleasantly surprised when we'd made it halfway through lunch without any.  That came to an abrupt end when women started filing in for a baby shower in the next room.  Someone at our table said, "That'll be you in a few months!" to my boss.  Next thing I knew, the entire conversation revolved around maternity clothes, registeries, showers, doctor's appointments, etc. 

I really just wanted to crawl under the table.  I'm reminded that I feel like I'm on a bit of tightrope right now...the littlest thing pushes me into the net and it takes me awhile to recover.  It's unnerving and incredibly uncomfortable...and I'm all too aware that it sounds eerily similar to hubby's depression.  On days like yesterday, I tend to reconsider my OB/GYN's low dose Xanax offer...

Other Random Stuff...
Yesterday's workout...Jillian Michael's isn't messing around and I'm sore today!!
30 Day Shred
This is cool, albeit insanely expensive!  It's BBT on steroids and even comes in many pretty colors to choose from, too! ;-)
DuoFertility
Wow!  I really appreciated this view on medicated IUIs and the fact that insurance companies have doctor's hands tied regarding moving straight to IVF where appropriate.
It's NOT Cheaper by the Dozen
This reminds me to be sure to ask the urologist next week whether they're using Kreuger or WHO criteria for the SA.  It also gives me a tiny bit of hope...
Thousands Wrongly Branded "Infertile"
I'm happy to see research being done on MFI issues.  This is both a WOW and a WOAH article, though.
Scientist Create Human Sperm from Stem Cells