Temporal Landmarks

Temporal landmarks such as birthdays and significant calendar dates like New Years’ Day, and even Mondays structure our perception of time, and have implications for identity and motivation, especially in relation to future oriented goals. These positive goal setting behaviors associated with temporal landmarks have also been called the Fresh Start Effect and I have found myself needing a lot of these lately. So even though Monday’s are often maligned as the beginning of the work week and even though I’m retired I still get that Monday morning feeling. Mondays are also often one of the best days for something good, a fresh start be it quitting smoking or renewing your fitness goals. So why am I blogging about Monday on a Friday night (and posting it on a Saturday morning)? I guess it’s because it is easy to abandon my own fitness goal’s fresh start I got on Monday over the weekend and I don’t want to do that. Of course being in the Bahamas with the beaches all around and so close for walking, biking, and swimming it just seems easier to make the effort to stick with fitness goals even over the weekend. After the weekend it’s just more Monday, Monday, so good to me…

MBA

These are the most, percentage-wise, sought after college degrees these days. They have recently surpassed masters’ degrees in education, the previous long-time leader. This is an indication according to some that the MBA is highly valued in the job market for future employees. Maybe having one makes you the MVP on the candidate list when you apply. Sounds like getting one of these might be a good way to beef up your resume. I wonder of Donald Sterling has one? As a member of a family of vertically challenged types I do not have much interest in the sport of basketball as far as watching or participating. Dribbling is for babies (same as drooling, right?). I really don’t think the tank type or even sleeveless tops they wear are flattering on me either and the shoes required are ridiculously pricey too. I have even less interest and zero respect for the likes of Donald Sterling, so I figure the MBA is out of the question for me all together…or wait a minute… I mean the NBA! 

Robot Armies

Seriously I figured I’d only see these on the Sci Fi channel but today I read that Russia (leave it to Putin) has armed robot sentries guarding five ballistic missile installations. These armed robots can detect and destroy targets without any human involvement (unless the human is the target) and have helped Russia take the lead in the new robotic arms race. These gun toting Russian robot sentries have cameras, laser range finders, and radar sensors. For fire power they are armed with 12.7 millimeter heavy machine guns and other smaller optional weapons. They can move up to 45 mph, operate 10 uninterrupted hours, and switch themselves into a sleep mode for up to a week. In the US even drones are operated by humans. We also have some sentry robots patrolling nuclear sites and robots used for bomb disposal but none that are armed, able to ID targets, and attack targets on their own. Russia even has a promotional video showing their commandos training with their armed robots. Russia’s defense minister and Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister seem to think these armed war robots will save lives.... I doubt it.

Tunnel Superstitions

Some guy fainted while holding his breath driving through a tunnel in Oregon and caused a 3 car accident. If he made a wish related to getting through the tunnel safely, then he obviously didn’t get his wish by holding his breath. At the end of the article it was mentioned that the driver was either playing a game or observing a superstition. That piqued my curiosity so I decided to look into tunnel superstitions. Some of these superstitions have their roots in early railroad tunnels. One of the earliest recorded instances of tunnel superstition is that of railway tunnel builders who would touch metal before heading down into the tunnels and wish for a safe return. I think the touch metal (kind of like knock on wood) might be a safer thing to do than holding one’s breath, especially if the tunnel is a long one. These next two superstitions were recorded in 1954: If you walk under a tunnel while a train is going over it, it’s bad luck and you should cross your fingers. And if you speak under a tunnel or a bridge, you must touch a green object or you’ll have bad luck. My kids used to hold their feet up off the floor of the car whenever we drove over railroad tracks and to this day I don’t know why. When my husband and I took the Chunnel, the tunnel that runs under the English Channel and connects France and England, I touched (and held on to) a baguette, French style with no bag just a paper napkin wrapped around the middle for transporting. It was good enough luck for me.

Jellyfishing

While I was watching the SpongeBob episode on jellyfishing (for the 100^th time) with my grandson I got to thinking about thimble jellyfish and their pesky larvae A.K.A sea lice. These, for all practical purposes mainly avoidance invisible pests, inhabit the waters of the Caribbean from late January till the first of June. They must be rinsed off quickly after swimming or the swimmer will know the misery they inflict! I guess I’m thinking about them because I am heading off to a place where they might be lurking. I definitely have beach time on my mind and I don’t want an itchy rash to spoil things. Each organism (thimble jellyfish larva) possesses only a single undeveloped nematocyst which is inactive while suspended in sea water. However, due to their microscopic size and sticky bodies, large concentrations of larvae can become trapped in minute gaps between your skin and clothing or hair. Once you leave the ocean, the organisms stuck against your skin die and automatically discharge their nematocysts when crushed, dried out, or exposed to fresh water. This is why symptoms usually do not appear until you dry off in the sun or take a freshwater shower without first removing the affected clothing. So tomorrow isn't exactly the first of June but I’m sure hoping the sea lice season ends a couple of days early.

Cognitive Decline Due to Ageing is a Myth!

For someone in my age category reading about how the pervasive myth that cognitive abilities decline with age isn't true is pretty exciting. The important thing to know here is that if you believe your cognitive ability can improve, you can learn more than if you believe your cognitive ability is fixed or limited. This makes sense to the retired teacher in me because I am constantly learning new things (some of which I blog about). True I have some memory lapses but research says this could be because I have a larger mental dictionary to look through for a specific name, face, fact, or memory. As we age (and as we learn new things) we get better at ignoring things we don’t need to know and experience matters. I've known that experience matters for a long time but I didn’t realize that it continues to be very significant as people continue to age. The other thing that matters is context. Retirement leads older people to spend most of their time in highly familiar environments and this can make it harder for them to absorb the context that separates one memory from another leading to confusion. This seems to be pointing to why changing things up, learning new things, and increasing new knowledge is still important, even for old retirees like me!

What will DNA Show Us Next?

The answer is molecular photofit, a 3-D image of the face of a person that leaves DNA at the scene of a crime. This computer generated image takes into consideration more individual variations in facial structure (not just ethnicity, hair color etc.) than has been done in the past. The planned use for this newer technology is to provide “evidence” and I use the term loosely here, for probable cause for search warrants and police questioning. Of course if you only resemble the perp, and are innocent of the crime, your DNA will clear you….eventually. This new use for DNA, molecular photofitting, is not intended to be used to convict, but wrongful arrests and unjustified searches that could easily result are violations of the 4^th Amendment. And then there are already concerns that this investigative tool is just another form of profiling. I wonder if it is already too late to have this technique independently validated for accuracy. Probably one more example of the cart before the horse as seems to happen with so many technological advances. 

Stealthy Toxin in Our Drinking Water

Arsenic is the toxin and even though I couldn't put my finger on a report that would tell me just how much there is in St. Marys’ water despite scouring the city website, it is everywhere and where there are higher concentrations its worse. My grandson in Cocoa Beach got me thinking about blogging on this. When I started to make my oatmeal with tap water he said, “Don’t you want to use this clean water (from the fridge)?” Because levels of arsenic build up in our bodies over time this is something to consider. Some arsenic in the water is considered a safe level (like alcohol must reach a certain level in your bloodstream in order for you to become legally intoxicated). Yet ingesting arsenic, a naturally occurring metal (found in greater amounts in groundwater in different areas), can lead to serious problems like heart disease, cancer, and reproductive problems over time. This is a bigger problem in developing countries where testing for and eliminating arsenic from the drinking water isn't a high priority. There is a new technology that can help that aims to filter out the arsenic and lock it up in concrete because it doesn't make the concrete dangerous and a lot of concrete is used in developing countries for roads. With this new technology water is pumped into a container fitted with steel plates. A small amount of voltage runs through the plates making them rust more quickly and the arsenic binds chemically with the rust as it forms and falls to the bottom of the tank. It is collected as a rusty sludge and the treated water is pumped out. A prototype of this system is being created for use in parts of California where arsenic levels are high. I knew there was a reason for my dislike for drinking water straight from the tap.

Not All Screen Time Created Equal

Wow, I bet my kids wished I’d known this during all those years we went without TV and then when we finally got one, limited their screen time. And the video games, I thought I was so smart making the rule that they could only be played before 9 am on weekends, thinking no teenager in our house liked to get up that early, but for those they did. I recently read an opinion piece that alluded to the fact that not all screen time is bad and all screens shouldn't be lumped together (TV and iPad specifically). Studies and surveys back up the idea that tablets promote learning and that kids benefit from using both tablets and print materials more than using just print alone. And here I’d been considering most of these handheld screens basically as electronic babysitters. The key to this issue seems to be the type of screen used and the use of educational apps. The piece also mentioned the use of SKYPE with a grandparent as not a bad thing, and on this I heartily agree. Apparently this generation’s iPad is my generation’s Jane Austen. I’ll keep this thought in mind when my grandkids take their tablets with them to the potty. 

Suspended Animation

I often thought my husband expected us to all be in a state of suspended animation when he was out to sea on a sub and returned to find his parking place in the driveway occupied by my car or one of our kid’s vehicles. The suspended animation I recently read about is even more significant for people with major gunshot wounds or heart trauma. Surgeons in Pennsylvania want to suspend patients between life and death in order to buy time to save their lives by fixing lethal injuries. Rather than calling it suspended animation they are referring to this process as emergency preservation and resuscitation. During this process the patient’s blood is removed and replaced with a cold saline solution in order to rapidly cool the body and stop cellular activity. Induced hypothermia has been around for decades and this is how people who have fallen into icy ponds have managed to survive, sometimes more than 30 minutes after falling in. Now doctors buy up to 45 minutes using icepacks to rapidly cool the body but this is a slow planned process and it would take too long to benefit a person whose heart has stopped beating due to blood loss from a gunshot or stab wound. Putting a person in suspended animation, a place where they are no longer alive, yet not yet dead either could give doctors more time in an emergency. Rapid cooling to 10 degrees C using a cold saline solution to replace blood has been done successfully with animals. When the blood was returned and the body warmed some of their hearts spontaneously began beating and some were given a jumpstart. The plan is to try this technique on ten people and compare the results to ten others that met the criteria but did not receive this specific treatment. If successful (and I think it will be) we will need to adjust the definition of dead once again. 

Catching My Breath in Cocoa Beach

After taking my grandson to school and applauding his accomplishment-receiving the Presidential Youth Fitness Award-I am taking a minute here to catch my breath! As soon as I pick this guy up from school the action will begin. I wasn't surprised in the least that he received the fitness award. He also made sure he wore his running necklace today with little plastic shoe charms for all the miles he’s put in on the track at school in the mornings before classes begin. This and we had to leave early to get to school in time to shoot some hoops in the gym before the award ceremony today. I’m already looking forward to spending even more action time when school lets out for the summer at the end of this week and I know all the grand kids are ready for that too!

Commercializing Grief

So I was thinking about my late mother today when my sister sent me a text about burning some Brussels sprouts. I could in my mind’s ear here my mother shouting from the back of the house, “Jo must be cooking-something’s burning!” I couldn't imagine that sentiment would sell many t-shirts. I was out mowing the yard this morning before the heat of the day hit and I noticed the tree my mother picked out (an Arizona blue something) for Christmas one year that we planted by her favorite yucca is dead on the top and I thought it will have to be topped. I hope it’s tough enough to keep on from there and even though taller than my mom by a long shot it if it survives topping it would surely remind me of her stature (short). These are some of the ways I remember my mom.

But more to the topic, I read about commercializing grief at the 9/11 memorial on MSN and people had a lot to say on both sides of the subject. Some felt the gift shop items emblazoned with pictures of the twin towers or just 9/11 are tactless. Others say they would buy an item to remember their trip and honor the memories of those who lost their lives. Since the memorial isn't funded like a national park or monument the souvenir sellers feel justified. I know I don’t need a cap or mug to remind me of that day. Just like so many mom-isms imprinted on my heart the strong emotion and shared grief from 9/11 remains with me and I suspect will always remain. Maybe there is some value in selling books and items that could inform the generations born after the tragedy but for the most part I think I fall on the anti-commercializing grief side of the argument.   

There could be an Alligator in Lake Seminole Wearing my Grandson’s Swim Trunks

Yep, true story! While being pulled around with his cousins on an inner tube behind Ed’s boat Ethan lost his swim trunks! He tried to call to Ed to stop or slow down, but his tubing partner Bobby waved Ed on. When finally Bob looked over and saw Ethan’s predicament he hollered to him to pull his pants up but it was too late. They were already gone. Fortunately Ethan’s underpants snagged around his ankles so he was able to pull them up, but the swim trunks were lost in the depths of Lake Seminole. This is one memorable cousins’ adventure that Ethan will have a hard time living down. When we first arrived at the park and were waiting for Ed to put the boat in we saw what we first thought was a gator but turned out to be an otter’s bum ~~ swimming near the surface of the water along the shore. I figure the gators were further out waiting to retrieve Ethan errant swim trunks. Maybe he’ll wear the next pair a little higher and tie them a little tighter. Of course it won’t be as interesting as watching Ethan’s bum ~~swimming along on an inner tube behind the boat as it was this weekend.

Little Lizard Scare

This wouldn't have been so startling if we hadn't found a dead lizard at the threshold of my bedroom here in Blue Heaven (our little blue house in St. Pete). Jonas and I were feeling sad for the poor little guy and I figured he just dried up after coming in and not being able to find his way out. We properly disposed of him (ashes to ashes) and said some words that hopefully would send him from Blue Heaven to lizard heaven and then went on about getting settled for the evening. So this morning when I saw a lizard in the bathtub as I was stepping into the shower I just figured there was another unfortunate fellow that made the same mistake and couldn't get back out. I was thinking Blue Heaven might be like the Hotel California for lizards when suddenly that little guy came at me! Before I could get past my Eek! he made his getaway diving into the bath tub drain. He got plenty of water there for the next 20 minutes at least! Back to feeling complacent and refreshed from the shower I went to raise the blinds in the front room (so Fred, our pooch) could keep an eye on the goings on in the neighborhood when I got my second little lizard scare. We have the paper folding blinds that you clip up with white plastic clips (that come with the blinds). These blinds fan fold up (or down at night when even Fred is asleep) and when I went to fold them up something (you guessed it) jumped out and ran over my hand and into the pillows on the bench below the window. He felt dry so I figure he was friend of the fellow in the bathroom. I didn’t even move the pillows to look for him further, but instead retreated to my chair by the window to type this blog. From here on out though I am going to be careful lest I discover any more of these little lizards. Who knows where else in Blue Heaven they may be lurking in wait to give me a scare!

GEM No Longer Shining in St. Marys, GA

I’ve rode past this pretty nondescript grey building just over the tracks in St. Marys in my car, on my bike, even walking maybe thousands of times over the past 30 years as a resident here and I had no clue to what went on there. Gateway Employment and Manufacturing, INC., GEM, owns and operated a bottling plant there. “To give life-changing opportunities of employment to the disabled in a competitive bottling industry,” was their mission. They were the proud bottlers of Georgia Islands Water, Tampico Punches, and Private Label Beverages and the employers of 85 workers, 75% of them with a disability. After checking out their website I found that they did an amazing thing, combined social work (helping folks with mental illness, addictions, and developmental delays) do real work. Looking at the photos of the products they bottled, flavored waters, and fruit drinks, I recognized their products as many I've seen in stores. The sad news is I've written a lot of this in past tense as in GEM is no longer open. It didn’t survive the state budget and that is a shame. When I googled GEM in St. Marys, GA I came up with lots of gems like Cumberland Island, the Riverside Café, the Osprey Golf Club, and even gems at Walmart, but the real GEM, GEM Enterprises, is no longer shining downtown and that is surely a lost community treasure. 

Drive by Shooting

I read in last week’s USA Today that Honolulu City Council hasn't decided whether or not to approve advertising on the sides of city buses. This made me remember a drive by shooting I participated in when I visited Honolulu some years back. Peer pressure, the urging of our bus driver, the late hour (or wee hour of the morning, actually), and unlimited Mai Tais probably had something to do with it. As our bus pulled alongside another bus our driver counted to three as we all took aim and clicked our cameras’ flash buttons in unison while the people (our drive by shooting victims) in the bus beside us did the same. That was it, my first drive by shooting and to tell the truth I don’t remember if there was any advertising on the side of the bus back then either. I do know that I’m going to have to figure out how to use the flash on my camera phone before my next visit to Honolulu.

Home of the Braves

Home of the Braves, Turner Field, in Atlanta may have a new owner when the Braves move to Cobb County after their lease ends on Dec. 31, 2016. Georgia State University has proposed buying it and the adjacent parking lots. I’m glad I had a chance to see a game there before they move. We did go after touring the World of Coke, the GA Aquarium, and the Olympic Centennial Park last weekend with my family. We caught a shuttle from Johnny Rocket’s just above ground near Underground Atlanta which for a couple of my grands was the first time riding a city bus (school buses not included). The best part was getting tickets to the game for only $1 a piece with my husband’s military ID. We did sit in the highest stands and had to go even higher to escape the rain by getting under the covered part of the stadium seating during the rain delay. We sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7^th inning stretch. I sang root, root, root for the Cubbies but it didn’t help. The only thing better would have been a win for them, but if nothing else they sure are consistent and we had a great time visiting the home of the Braves. 

You Know What Really Sucks?

The title here definitely has my husband’s sense of humor, and the answer is partly no, not just a vaccum cleaner. The Astyanax mexicanus does. Does that sound fishy to you? Well, it should because that’s exactly what it is – the Mexican blind cavefish. Scientists have discovered that this particular fish can turn a blind eye to GPS because it sucks water into its mouth and the resulting currents that bounce off nearby objects are detected by sense organs in its flanks. Roi Holzman of Tel Aviv University in Israel and his colleagues recorded how often captive cavefish sucked in water. They found that when the fish approached an object, it sucked at up to six times the normal rate and when in an unknown area swam more slowly. It is true that all fish suck (according to my husband who only occasionally likes fish when they are fried), and have these sensory organs in their flanks but this is the first time it’s been discovered that a fish, the Mexican blind cavefish, actually uses them (sucking and sensory organs in its flanks) in tandem for navigation. Some may think that they’re just actually sucking to get nutrients from the water but Mexican blind cave fish eats bat guano (maybe that’s why my husband has an aversion to eating fish). 

Spending Freeze

Not spending sprees? I had to move this topic way down to the middle of this month (just in time to do one) because I have been busy traveling and that is not the best time to go on a spending freeze. Going on one now that I’m back and basically broke should be a lot easier. Spending freezes work best when they are planned events and they can last as long as you’d like them to though 2 weeks is the usual freeze time. During the spending freeze you don’t spend and by figuring out what your missing (stuff you are spending on during your regular routine) helps you realize just how much you could be saving. Before you start a spending freeze it’s a good idea to have decided where you are going to put the money you save so you don’t undo the good work of the freeze. It is also a good idea to have the car gassed up, toilet paper stocked, and the menus planned and shopped for. You should keep a small amount of money available for perishable food items, but that extra latte at the drive thru goes off limits along with, pizza delivery and the weekend DVD from the Redbox. Homemade pizza is easy, inexpensive, and healthier than ordering out. It can be a bit messy when you involve the kids in creating the pizzas but the fun and family time is worth it. Instead of a movie break out a board game or something the whole family can do on the Wii. After the spending freeze take a fresh look at your budget and see if it needs tweaking. It is so easy to get in the habit of spending everything you get income-wise each month or week. My mother always said money has a way of burning a hole in your pocket. A spending freeze might just be the thing to get you on track and saving for some future needs or fun.

Shocking Green

Nope, not a neon color of someone’s hair or shirt but this green (the renewable energy kind of green) does deserve some energetic investigation. The annual Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment revealed that 44 percent of all generating capacity installed last year around the world was renewable. What is more surprising is this occurred in spite of a 14 percent decline in investments. Renewable energy, last year, kept 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Thanks to the falling costs of wind and solar power, more projects can be and are being built. For more than a decade, Germany and the European continent led the way in investment and research but now China has stepped up and taken the lead; investing $56 billion in green power last year. Shares in clean energy companies had been in a free fall since the start of the global recession but actually turned around and rose 54% last year. Let’s hope countries (including ours) forge ahead and don’t pull the plug on something that appears to be a well-grounded investment in our future or at least something able to give power back to the people.

Bugging a Bug

One of the most hideous bugs, to me, is the cockroach. It is hard for me to believe that people actually eat them even though there are significant protein benefits. Once I watched my husband consume two large Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches shish-kabobbed on a skewer with vegetables and a mustard barbeque sauce at an insect culinary demonstration at Crooked River State Park and yes, it looked disgusting from my point of view. The exciting news, if there is any to be had about cockroaches, is that scientists have discovered how to build and release DNA nanobots inside a cockroach. This is threshold science and these DNA nanobots can perform the same logic operations as a silicon-based computer can! Daniel Levner, a bioengineer, and his colleagues at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University have been able to make strands with particular DNA sequences and when they come in contact with a particular molecule – say a cancer cell, they unravel and if the DNA has drugs in its folds, it releases them. The team has injected various kinds of nanobots into cockroaches and says the accuracy and control of the nanobots is equal to a computer system. The drawback in introducing these biological nanobots into the human body is that it triggers an immune system response. Although, it’s probably at least 5 years away, Ido Bachelet of Bar IIan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, believes they can make these nanobots stable enough to withstand an immune system response. I think I could do the nanobots maybe, just not in cockroaches!

Cause is to Effect as Fracking is to Earthquakes

Even if you aren't a fan of analogies this one is pretty easy to figure out and data over time has shown this to be true in places where you might not expect to find (or feel) an earthquake. Oklahoma is one such place. The rate of earthquakes in Oklahoma has increased by about 50% since October 2013 and a likely factor in the increase in earthquakes is fracking, the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock layers deep within the earth. Many of the tremors have been on the smaller side (3.0 in magnitude) so far but researchers and geophysicists believe these may follow a trend and be building up to bigger more devastating earthquakes as has been noted in other regions in the past. At present Oklahoma is considered at risk for 5.0+ earthquakes. As for fracking, I've blogged about it in the past (see Fracking – July 10, 2013) and despite the sugar coated natural gas commercials promoting it on TV, the news is definitely not good. 

May the Sixth… (or Revenge of the Si*Th?)

This might be your fate if the 4^th wasn't with you and the 5^th was. Hence the possibility for revenge of the Si (x) th. Harry Kim, fictional character who appeared in each of the seven seasons of the American television series Star Trek: Voyager, portrayed by Garrett Wang, was seen in a recent interview wearing a t-shirt with the elements Si (silicon) and Th (Thorium) on it, spelling out Sith in an interesting unique way. Plenty of other folks identify with Star Wars’ bad boys too (maybe you?). Darth Vader is the best known Sith lord in the whole series, as far as I can remember (the movies first came out decades ago) so if you feel like you’re taking a walk on the dark side today, beware, it just might be the revenge of the Sith. Enough of this Sithy-ness, tomorrow is May 7^th and from what I can tell right now it’ll be just another day!

Happy Cinco de Mayo and May the 5^th be with you!

And if you do have a fifth (say tequila for Cinco de Mayo) here are a couple of things to consider, 5 things, actually.

1. Have fun but act responsibly and stay safe.
2. Open containers in your vehicle are not a good idea.
3. Driving with or after a fifth isn't a good idea either, so designate a driver. It could save your life and the lives of other motorists and their families.
4. Know when to say enough is enough. Throwing up in the DD’s car is detrimental to your future relationship. You might also consider whether or not your relationship with alcohol is more important than avoiding hangover pangs.
5. Be a real friend to your friends, call a taxi for them if need be so everyone makes it home safely.

May the 4^th be with you!

I missed the opportunity to wish this for you last year, but I am on it today! Here is a short excerpt from my conversation this morning with my go to blog idea guy…

Darth Vader's Shadow Behind You!

[7:43 AM] Jo Mount: I need some ideas about 'May the 4th be with you' today for my blog…

[7:46 AM] A Mount: Okay....any particular genre you want to follow like this is a good spring day to go forth and enjoy nature or if we spent a fourth of our time taking care of ourselves we'd be better off or do you know who our fourth president is or hopefully answers about Ukraine crisis and Malaysian flight MH370 will be forthcoming?

[7:48 AM] Jo Mount: Nope...Star Wars Day...say "May the 4th be with you" out loud…

Basically I was in the same place last year when I first saw memes with May the 4^th be with you on Facebook too. So now I don’t feel so bad. The one thing that I really liked about Star Wars is the music. It’s still around in ringtones and TV commercials too.

If you aren't a fan you can always celebrate tomorrow. I was thinking about starting a special day tomorrow for those who imbibe in adult beverages called 'May the 5th be with you!' and it is Cinco de Mayo after all (in case you need another excuse!).

Statins Give Users License to Pig Out!

Statins are drugs given to people to lower high cholesterol (I take one) and they work pretty well, too well some researchers fear. Some researchers think (and their studies have shown) that people using statins to lower cholesterol are abandoning heart healthy diets and slacking off on exercise. These bad habits can contribute to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other problems that are bad for the heart. Use of statins seems to be producing a false sense of reassurance. After using statins for one year, calories intake, fat intake (especially the saturated fats), body mass index, and diabetes increased and activity levels decreased. I get how this can happen after trying diet, exercise, and even fish oil gels to try to decrease my own cholesterol only to find that I had to resort to using statins (low dose every other day) to bring mine into what is considered a normal range. The healthy track is what most people get on before they are put on the statins as the next (I hope not last) resort. An unhealthy diet and sedentary life style along with my genetics probably went a long way to contributing to my cholesterol levels in the first place. Once you trade out those unhealthy habits for an active lifestyle and a healthy diet why waste the benefits. Don’t let statins give you a license to pig out!

Fun Things to Do with My Baby

Today while I was trying to come up with something to blog about, 25 fun things to do with baby on MSN caught my eye. I thought I’d put my favorites in here. Swing in the sheets (double or queen size sheets work best which is good since I have a queen sized bed complete with queen sized linens), make skin to skin contact (babies love this), find face time (not on the phone), and play silly games of peekaboo as you move him up and down. Take time to make talking take center stage and when you can’t, learn some sign language and use that. My last favorite was about how my baby and I would enjoy getting outside and going for a walk. Now I’ll admit here that these were ideas to use with babies that are actually infants but I don’t have any of those to try these out on (yes, even my grandkids are no longer babies). So I think I’ll give these a try when my baby hubby gets back to town next week. Sounds like fun to me.