Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/36313
Tuesday, July 12, 2011 – Daily News 3B FEATURES Adolescent attitudes Dear Annie: Five months ago, I begged my sister to move in with me to get her away from her abusive boyfriend. It took some convincing and tough love, but she finally ceased contact with him completely. Three months after she moved in, my fiance and I found out that we were expecting a baby. We set a wedding date, and he moved in imme- diately. We are getting married next week- end, and I am losing my mind. Neither my fiance nor my sister is paying their share of the bills. Neither wants to clean the house. In fact, they don’t seem to have grown up at all, even though we will soon be adding to our family. They both ignore basic respon- sibilities and think it’s outrageous that I would put mowing the lawn ahead of poker night at the bar. There isn’t enough room in the house for the three of us, much less a baby, and the situation is compounded when my fiance’s 4-year-old son visits. To make matters worse, I’m having a hard time distinguishing between legit- imate concerns, pre-wedding jitters and pregnancy hormones. My sister says she plans to move out before the baby is born, but I don’t believe her. Annie’s Mailbox by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar I am a college graduate with a great job, and I worked hard to get where I am. I’m willing to do whatever is nec- essary to give our child that same secu- rity, but it feels like I have two over- grown adolescents in the house. I can’t wait to be a mother, but I’m beginning to think I would be better off doing it alone. How can I get my fiance and sis- ter to grow up and understand the changes that are coming? — N.E. Dear N.E.: If your fiance doesn’t understand the need to contribute to the maintenance of his home, he is not ready to be a husband and father. And your sister must find her own place as soon as possible. Her presence com- pounds the problems with your fiance. The two of them feed off of each other, looking for ways to avoid responsibili- ty. You’ve been a good sister. Help yours find another place to live, and then get into counseling with your fiance as soon as possible. Dear Annie: I am a 36-year-old female, happily divorced and living on my own (one dog, no kids). I am very close to my parents and see them fre- quently. The problem is, they constant- ly ask where I’m going, what I did last night, what my plans are for the week- end, who I’m going to be with, and on and on. It drives me nuts. I’m happy to share details of my life with them, but do I have to tell them absolutely every- thing? — Terri in Los Angeles Dear Terri: Your parents ask these intrusive questions because they want to feel like a part of your life. This does not mean you have to answer. When you see them, offer as much informa- tion about your schedule as you wish. When they ask about things you do not care to share, simply tell them they will have to respect your privacy. If you say it nicely and often enough, they will get the message. Dear Annie: This is in response to ‘‘Want To Make Things Right,’’ whose friend is exhibiting paranoid ideas about rays causing abdominal pain and his shower causing his skin to tingle and burn. Years ago, I lived in an apartment, and suddenly, after five years there, I began to feel nauseated every time I walked in the door. When I took a shower, the water felt electrified. Our landlady was very understand- ing and had the electric company check their nearby transformers. It wasn’t until we moved out that I discovered there was a dormant oil well about 500 feet away that an oil company was priming to use again. They got the oil flowing by shooting electricity 300 to 500 feet down the well. — Lomita, Calif. Annie’s Mailbox is written by Kathy Mitchell and Marcy Sugar, longtime editors of the Ann Landers column. Please e-mail your questions to anniesmailboxcomcast.net, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 5777 W.Century Blvd., Ste. 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Clear Channel swipes at Pandora LOS ANGELES (AP) — Radio station giant Clear Channel Communications Inc. is taking a swipe at online music service Pan- dora with a revamp of its iheartradio application that imitates Pandora’s person- alized listening experience but doesn’t mimic the start- up’s need to turn a profit. The operator of over 850 radio stations nationwide is kicking off the new service with a star-studded two-day concert in Las Vegas on Sept. 23 and 24 featuring acts including Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Lopez. Bob Pittman, chairman of media and entertainment platforms for Clear Channel Communications Inc., said the success of Pandora Media Inc. proves that peo- ple like being able to stream songs according to their personal tastes on mobile devices. Pittman said iheartradio will adopt that feature in a gradual relaunch over the coming months. Pandora went public with an initial offering of shares last month but its stock price has seen-sawed as euphoria among Internet investors gave way to the reality that its ad revenue has not grown fast enough to cover the royalties that it pays to play music. Pando- ra’s stock closed at $19.27 on Friday, about 19 percent above its initial public offer- ing price. Pittman said Clear Channel, a privately held company that had $5.9 bil- lion in revenue last year, doesn’t need to turn a profit if its new service helps reach audiences in different ways. ‘‘To us it doesn’t matter if it ever succeeds as a busi- ness,’’ Pittman said in an interview. ‘‘We only have to have it succeed as a fea- ture.’’ Pandora has said it has about 94 million registered users and more than 30 mil- lion listeners a month. Pittman said Clear Channel isn’t far behind, with about 27 million monthly online visitors, although that figure includes visitors of radio station websites and those who listen to the iheartradio application. Clear Channel reaches 237 million listen- ers over traditional radio airwaves every month. Iheartradio allows listen- ers to hear the feeds of sta- tions outside their market and to certain channels that stream music along specific genres. Clear Channel acquired streaming music company Thumbplay in March, and used its tech- nology as the basis for the new customized radio fea- ture. Pittman said that the new iheartradio app will have access to 10 million tracks, millions more than Pando- ra, and run without ads for the rest of the year. The company is also offering freebie concert packages to listeners to build buzz around the relaunch. Get absorbed in SpongeBob's Twitter tale NEW YORK (MCT) — SpongeBob SquarePants is diving into new waters this week — the Twitter- verse. "The Ice Race Cometh: A Twitter- Tale," which will run Tuesday through Friday on Twitter, marks the first time an original "SpongeBob" story has been created for the social networking site. The tale concocted by the show's writers begins with a tweet from Bikini Bottom Action News about an anonymous "wealthy entrepreneur" offering 1 million clams to the winner of The Bikini Bottom Great Sleigh Race. That sets off a flood of trash-tweeting by everyone from The Absorbent One himself to his pet snail, Gary (let's hope that his tweets involve more than his usual "meow"), as they get ready for the big race. The "Twitter-tale" serves as a prequel to "Frozen Face Off," a new SpongeBob episode premiering Friday at 8 p.m. on Nickelodeon in which the sleigh race takes place. Obstacles along the way include another doomed-for- failure attempt by Plankton to steal the Krabby Patty Formula and threats from a men- acing snow mollusk. SpongeBob is no stranger to cyberspace. More than 25 million fans have friended him on Facebook, topping even The Beatles and President Barack Obama. How do you like them Krabby Pat- ties? An inability to taste is perplexing DEAR DR. GOTT: I lost my taste buds approxi- mately one week ago. Nothing I eat has any taste or fla- vor to it. I started taking NitroFur 100 mg, a generic prescription, for a urinary tract infec- tion. The pills did- n’t work, and that’s when I lost my taste buds. I don’t know if it was just a coincidence or if the medication caused it, but I am no longer taking the med- ication. I spoke to my phar- macist, who did some research and said this is not one of the side effects from the medica- tion. Do you know if there is anything I can do or take to restore my sense of taste? I do not want to have to go through the rest of my life not wanting to eat! DEAR READER: Nitrofurantoin is an antibiotic used to treat urinary tract infections. It is marketed in the United States under the names Macrobid, Macrodantin and Furadantin. Dosing is between 50 mg and 100 mg four times a day for a period of seven days, with variations depend- ing upon the brand pre- scribed. Dr. Peter Gott ications such as ACE inhibitors and beta blockers, poor dental hygiene, aller- gies, sinusitis, having a diag- nosis of Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, being a smok- er or suffering from depression might be to blame. If your sense of taste has not returned at this stage, make an appoint- ment with your physi- cian to go over possible causes. You may have a treatable condition that will allow you once again to enjoy your sense of taste. Be sure to advise him or her of any over-the-counter drugs or herbs you might be taking, since almost anything could be to blame. DEAR DR. GOTT: I have checked Kroger, Wal-Mart and Meijer for bran to make your colon cocktail. All they had was oat bran or rice bran. Are these accept- able for the cocktail of prune juice and apple- sauce? Common side effects can include fever, loss of appetite, anorexia, mild diarrhea, gas, rash, vomiting and fever. Many gastrointestinal side effects can be reduced or eliminated if the drug is taken with food. A person’s urine will be dark orange to brown, which is com- pletely normal. While appetite suppression is reported, I am unaware of any correlation between the medication and a loss of taste. Each person can react to a drug in different ways, and you may be one of those people. Other than this possi- ble link, there are a number of different rea- sons for this to occur. While you don’t indi- cate how old you are, a number of people over the age of 60 have reported that they lost their taste buds. Unfor- tunately, this can be a normal part of the aging process. Specific med- DEAR READER: There are several forms of bran, including oat, rice, wheat, corn, barley and millet. I suggest you look in the cereal isle of your local grocery to find All-Bran or other labels that list bran as the initial ingredient. Readers who would like related information can order my Health Report “Compelling Home Remedies” by sending a self- addressed, stamped No. 10 envelope and a $2 U.S. check or money order made payable to Dr. Peter Gott, P.O. Box 433, Lakeville, CT 06039-0433. Be sure to mention the title when writing, or print out an order form from my website’s direct link: www.AskDrGottMD. Dr. Peter H. Gott is a retired physician and the author of several books, including “Live Longer, Live Better,” “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Diet” and “Dr. Gott’s No Flour, No Sugar Cookbook,” which are available at most bookstores or online. His website is www.AskDrGottMD.com. Have a news tip? Call 527-2151, Ext. 112 Tehama County’s Personal/Professional Service Directory AT YOUR SERVICE! $ 9900 3 month commitment Attorney Local Bankruptcy Attorney Jocelyn C. 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