Hooray for Nova Science Now.
I had been feeling a little bit like a loser in the me versus coffee games because I couldn't quit my coffee habit. I have cut down on the number of cups I drink at work by quite a bit going from, say, forty cups a day to two or three. But the experiment to go cold turkey was a bust. I felt lousy and brain foggy and pretty much a total mess without my fix. It was a disappointment because there is so much advice about giving up caffeine to become healthier.
I was thinking about gearing up to try to quit again when I caught part of Nova Science Now. Get this. Experiments with mice have shown that they gain distinct memory improvement when given the equivalent of five cups of coffee a day. In the experiment, the mice were unable to remember a maze that they had learned in the past until they were started on the caffeine. After only a short time with the coffee equivalents, they remembered.
Clearly this means that I should drink coffee. After all, why watch science shows unless you take the information they present and use it to support what you want to do anyway?
Me and the mice and coffee. Thanks for the memories.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
The Economics of Riding the Horse to Work
I've been reading about people who are protesting high gas prices by riding horses to work. Besides being a logistical (what do you do with the horse while you're in the office?) and safety (ride in traffic during rush hour?!?!) nightmare , it doesn't even come close to making good financial sense.
As much as I love T, he is not cheap. Board is $500 a month. Shoes are $110 every six weeks. Supplements, equipment, vet bills, etc. add another $50 to $100 per month. My monthly average for basics is around $650. If I had a place to keep my horse at home, I'd still have feed costs, farrier and vet bills, increased property taxes, a larger mortgage, and I'd never be able to go on vacation again because stabled horses need regular, reliable, constant care and all my spare time would have to go to maintaining the stable/pastures/etc. Plus I'd still need a car to, at a minimum, haul grain and hay.
My car, on the other hand, gets fairly good mileage. I fill it up about once a week. Even with today's gas prices, I spend about $200 per month for gas. The car sits quietly in the parking lot while I'm at work requiring no care, it doesn't shy in traffic, and, when lousy drivers have run into me, we've both come out of it relatively unscathed.
So, buy a horse if you want, but don't expect to be saving any money.
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BTW, the picture on my blog is of T, all gussied up for a horse show. Isn't he handsome?
As much as I love T, he is not cheap. Board is $500 a month. Shoes are $110 every six weeks. Supplements, equipment, vet bills, etc. add another $50 to $100 per month. My monthly average for basics is around $650. If I had a place to keep my horse at home, I'd still have feed costs, farrier and vet bills, increased property taxes, a larger mortgage, and I'd never be able to go on vacation again because stabled horses need regular, reliable, constant care and all my spare time would have to go to maintaining the stable/pastures/etc. Plus I'd still need a car to, at a minimum, haul grain and hay.
My car, on the other hand, gets fairly good mileage. I fill it up about once a week. Even with today's gas prices, I spend about $200 per month for gas. The car sits quietly in the parking lot while I'm at work requiring no care, it doesn't shy in traffic, and, when lousy drivers have run into me, we've both come out of it relatively unscathed.
So, buy a horse if you want, but don't expect to be saving any money.
*********************************************
BTW, the picture on my blog is of T, all gussied up for a horse show. Isn't he handsome?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Just So I Don't Get Confused (Psychologically Speaking)
While I was surfing the web, I found this on MSN. Someone sent a question to the lifestyle section asking why models have such smooth skin. The writer asked, do they shave?
Ying Chu, Marie Claire's beauty director, responded by saying "Face shaving is such a masculine act that it can be psychologically confusing to do it as a woman. If you feel like you have excess hair on your face, try waxing, plucking, using depilatories or laser hair removal."
OK, maybe it's just me, but is she kidding? Why is it feminine to rip hair from the root or burn it off with harsh chemicals or laser beams?
I think I prefer the lie from the old days when beauty magazines said if you shaved the hair would grow back thicker and darker.
Excuse me while I go pluck some hair. It may hurt but my psyche will remain unharmed.
Ying Chu, Marie Claire's beauty director, responded by saying "Face shaving is such a masculine act that it can be psychologically confusing to do it as a woman. If you feel like you have excess hair on your face, try waxing, plucking, using depilatories or laser hair removal."
OK, maybe it's just me, but is she kidding? Why is it feminine to rip hair from the root or burn it off with harsh chemicals or laser beams?
I think I prefer the lie from the old days when beauty magazines said if you shaved the hair would grow back thicker and darker.
Excuse me while I go pluck some hair. It may hurt but my psyche will remain unharmed.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Downside of Home Ownership
Work has been a bit of a struggle lately what with projects that aren't going well, annoying co-workers, department management decisions that are, to put it politely, interesting, and, mostly, my own inner voice that's shouting "what the heck are you doing here?"
The short answer is money.
I miss my F fund. (F for "freedom" or "forget this" because this is a family blog.)
Before I put the downpayment on my condo, spent some more cash to pretty it up, and came face to face with the reality of property taxes, I had a chunk of change just hanging around waiting for me to hit the breaking point.
During painful Friday afternoon meetings when poking my brains out with a pen seemed more pleasant than listening to another painful word, I would fantasize about walking out of the conference room, grabbing my stuff from my desk, and walking away forever. On drives into work, I would think about how nice it would be to just keep driving. And I could have done it. It's not that I ever would quit my job without notice and a back-up plan. It was just nice to know that I could.
For purposes of full disclosure, I actually have quit my job with no back-up plan in the past. I did give a two week notice. Then I went to Europe for a month and a half. It was fun. I highly recommend it. Of course, this was before T, the wonder horse, and while I was still living at my dad's house. Ah, youth. And no fixed expenses. Those were the days.
Today, I've got a mortgage and a horse and a salary that's about half of what it was when I was working full time. I'm so glad I didn't buy that purse while I was at the mall at lunch yesterday. Here's to the rebirth of the F fund ... one non-purchase at a time.
The short answer is money.
I miss my F fund. (F for "freedom" or "forget this" because this is a family blog.)
Before I put the downpayment on my condo, spent some more cash to pretty it up, and came face to face with the reality of property taxes, I had a chunk of change just hanging around waiting for me to hit the breaking point.
During painful Friday afternoon meetings when poking my brains out with a pen seemed more pleasant than listening to another painful word, I would fantasize about walking out of the conference room, grabbing my stuff from my desk, and walking away forever. On drives into work, I would think about how nice it would be to just keep driving. And I could have done it. It's not that I ever would quit my job without notice and a back-up plan. It was just nice to know that I could.
For purposes of full disclosure, I actually have quit my job with no back-up plan in the past. I did give a two week notice. Then I went to Europe for a month and a half. It was fun. I highly recommend it. Of course, this was before T, the wonder horse, and while I was still living at my dad's house. Ah, youth. And no fixed expenses. Those were the days.
Today, I've got a mortgage and a horse and a salary that's about half of what it was when I was working full time. I'm so glad I didn't buy that purse while I was at the mall at lunch yesterday. Here's to the rebirth of the F fund ... one non-purchase at a time.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
How not to clean
I have people coming over tomorrow.
I should be cleaning.
I am writing a blog post.
It's amazing how easy it is to write something when the alternative is cleaning.
I should be cleaning.
I am writing a blog post.
It's amazing how easy it is to write something when the alternative is cleaning.
Friday, June 13, 2008
The Downside of Audio Books
I've been listening to audio books in the car for over four years, ever since the last presidential campaign. I had been a huge fan of public radio but simply could no longer listen to the campaign rhetoric from either side. Commercial radio was filled with, well, commercials. My CD collection was getting tired of the heavy rotation. In desperation, I tried an audio book and totally fell in love with the format.
There's a downside to listening to books in the car. Words that stay quietly on the page of a printed book are out loud and in the open in an audio book. There was the time I took my car in for service just as a sex scene in a romance got hot and heavy. (Thank goodness I remembered to turn off the CD player before handing over the keys.) There have been times when I've been laughing out loud and then noticed the people in the next car over staring at me. The worst times, though, are those when the book is so touching that I cry.
In my current listen, Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, holocaust survivor, Irma, tells M.J. the story of a treasured tea cup that had belonged to her young daughter who died on the way to the concentration camp. A former neighbor's tiny act of kindness in saving that cup from the Nazis gave Irma the courage to go on with her life. I, of course, started to bawl. The last ten minutes of my commute into work was spent digging Kleenex out of my purse and wiping my face so I could recover enough to face my co-workers.
It was a good thing that I was running late this morning and forgot to put on mascara. Nobody at work would ever notice red, bleary eyes at 7:30 in the morning. Raccoon eyes on the other hand? Much more difficult to cover up.
I'm starting to wonder why it is that the potentially embarrassing audio book moments happen at the worst possible time. I may have to start a scientific study to see if this is actually true. In the meantime, I'll keep the tissues handy for the conclusion of this excellent book.
There's a downside to listening to books in the car. Words that stay quietly on the page of a printed book are out loud and in the open in an audio book. There was the time I took my car in for service just as a sex scene in a romance got hot and heavy. (Thank goodness I remembered to turn off the CD player before handing over the keys.) There have been times when I've been laughing out loud and then noticed the people in the next car over staring at me. The worst times, though, are those when the book is so touching that I cry.
In my current listen, Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, holocaust survivor, Irma, tells M.J. the story of a treasured tea cup that had belonged to her young daughter who died on the way to the concentration camp. A former neighbor's tiny act of kindness in saving that cup from the Nazis gave Irma the courage to go on with her life. I, of course, started to bawl. The last ten minutes of my commute into work was spent digging Kleenex out of my purse and wiping my face so I could recover enough to face my co-workers.
It was a good thing that I was running late this morning and forgot to put on mascara. Nobody at work would ever notice red, bleary eyes at 7:30 in the morning. Raccoon eyes on the other hand? Much more difficult to cover up.
I'm starting to wonder why it is that the potentially embarrassing audio book moments happen at the worst possible time. I may have to start a scientific study to see if this is actually true. In the meantime, I'll keep the tissues handy for the conclusion of this excellent book.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
The Day Job
My day job has been filled with job evaluations for the past week or so. As a result, I don't seem to be able to write at all. Job evaluation is all data and structure - figuring out how jobs fit into the framework of our company so people can be paid appropriately. When I get into it, I can feel creativity being pushed to the back of my brain. There's simply not enough room for it when everything is about hierarchy.
Or so I tell myself. Could this be an elaborate excuse? Yup, probably.
Plus, after this many years of it, job evaluation is mind numbing. Really. There are only so many times that a person should be forced to look at survey results. A numb mind is not a creative mind. (Yes, another elaborate excuse.)
Whatever the reason, in order to get myself back on the blogging track, I'm trying to fill the creative well. Any suggestions?
Or so I tell myself. Could this be an elaborate excuse? Yup, probably.
Plus, after this many years of it, job evaluation is mind numbing. Really. There are only so many times that a person should be forced to look at survey results. A numb mind is not a creative mind. (Yes, another elaborate excuse.)
Whatever the reason, in order to get myself back on the blogging track, I'm trying to fill the creative well. Any suggestions?
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Books, books, and more books
For me, there are definite moments for books. Sometimes I'll read a review or see a book at the bookstore for months before I actually buy it. Then it might sit on a shelf at home for another few months or even years before I read it. I have a bunch of books that are waiting around for the perfect moment to be read.
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig is one of the books that has been on my yet-to-buy list since it first came out in hardcover about a year ago. It's a retelling of Hamlet set in modern England. The book got good reviews and I had come this close to buying it a couple of times but just never did. I was really happy to find it on the new fiction audio book shelf at the library (free!). I just finished listening to it today.
OK, so maybe I should have known that it wouldn't be all that cheery considering the Hamlet angle and all but, darn it, the first couple chapters faked me out.
Eleven year old Philip's father has just died in an auto accident when, at the funeral, Philip sees his father's ghost. The ghost tells Philip that his uncle Alan is responsible for the accident - that it wasn't an accident at all but murder. In order for Philip's dad to avoid the terrors for the rest of his ghostly existence, Philip must avenge the murder.
Not so light so far, right? But the author does a great job with voice in this. Told in the first person, Philip's observations of the people around him in the months after his dad's death are funny. Maybe because he's so sincere, naive and matter of fact, it's got that whole "kids say the darnedest things" vibe. I got sucked into that note until the end. I was sort of expecting a happy ending or, at least, for Philip to come out of the experience relatively unscathed. I won't do a total spoiler but I will say that I'm glad I won't be funding that poor kid's psychoanalysis.
The boy who read the audio book was absolutely brilliant and I'm not sorry I listened but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next audio book is a little lighter. Whew.
The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig is one of the books that has been on my yet-to-buy list since it first came out in hardcover about a year ago. It's a retelling of Hamlet set in modern England. The book got good reviews and I had come this close to buying it a couple of times but just never did. I was really happy to find it on the new fiction audio book shelf at the library (free!). I just finished listening to it today.
OK, so maybe I should have known that it wouldn't be all that cheery considering the Hamlet angle and all but, darn it, the first couple chapters faked me out.
Eleven year old Philip's father has just died in an auto accident when, at the funeral, Philip sees his father's ghost. The ghost tells Philip that his uncle Alan is responsible for the accident - that it wasn't an accident at all but murder. In order for Philip's dad to avoid the terrors for the rest of his ghostly existence, Philip must avenge the murder.
Not so light so far, right? But the author does a great job with voice in this. Told in the first person, Philip's observations of the people around him in the months after his dad's death are funny. Maybe because he's so sincere, naive and matter of fact, it's got that whole "kids say the darnedest things" vibe. I got sucked into that note until the end. I was sort of expecting a happy ending or, at least, for Philip to come out of the experience relatively unscathed. I won't do a total spoiler but I will say that I'm glad I won't be funding that poor kid's psychoanalysis.
The boy who read the audio book was absolutely brilliant and I'm not sorry I listened but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the next audio book is a little lighter. Whew.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
June is fitness month
My New Year's resolution was to pick up one healthy habit each month this year. Here's the list so far.
January - drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Easy and so successful that I tried ...
February - take the stairs at work - 5 flights. (The first three flights up were not too bad but by the 4th my quads and lungs were seizing up. I'd reach the door at the 5th floor gasping for breath with my legs crying "what have we ever done to you?!")
March - nothing. (I was still recovering from stair experiment. If I had any kind of mental/physical toughness, I'd gut it out and stick with the stairs but the elevator is really much easier. Although to be fair to myself, I'm still taking the stairs down. Yay gravity!).
April - take a multivitamin daily (because no stairs are involved).
May - eat better/healthier foods and lose some weight. (You'll notice that the failed no-coffee experiment was not part of this challenge. There was truly no hope of long term success with that - even less hope than for the stairs which I thought - ha! - could get easier over time.)
June - exercise a minimum of five days a week.
It's hard to believe it now when taking the stairs is an exercise in torture, but I used to be in good shape. I was strong, aerobically fit and my body fat was something crazy like 19%. I'll never be that fit again. It was a lot of work and I'm so not up for that but I'd like to some of that fitness back again. I've tried in the past, pushed too hard, too fast and ended up with a fibro flare-up. This time I'm going to try the slow and consistent approach. Hopefully, by next February, I'll be able to take the stairs at work without needing a shower and life support by the time I reach the top.
**************************
Coffee update - Yup, I'm drinking coffee again but I've been able to limit myself to 2 cups a day. It feels pretty good. So, I'm either a poster child for moderation (my preferred view of the situation) or a total slacker.
January - drink 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Easy and so successful that I tried ...
February - take the stairs at work - 5 flights. (The first three flights up were not too bad but by the 4th my quads and lungs were seizing up. I'd reach the door at the 5th floor gasping for breath with my legs crying "what have we ever done to you?!")
March - nothing. (I was still recovering from stair experiment. If I had any kind of mental/physical toughness, I'd gut it out and stick with the stairs but the elevator is really much easier. Although to be fair to myself, I'm still taking the stairs down. Yay gravity!).
April - take a multivitamin daily (because no stairs are involved).
May - eat better/healthier foods and lose some weight. (You'll notice that the failed no-coffee experiment was not part of this challenge. There was truly no hope of long term success with that - even less hope than for the stairs which I thought - ha! - could get easier over time.)
June - exercise a minimum of five days a week.
It's hard to believe it now when taking the stairs is an exercise in torture, but I used to be in good shape. I was strong, aerobically fit and my body fat was something crazy like 19%. I'll never be that fit again. It was a lot of work and I'm so not up for that but I'd like to some of that fitness back again. I've tried in the past, pushed too hard, too fast and ended up with a fibro flare-up. This time I'm going to try the slow and consistent approach. Hopefully, by next February, I'll be able to take the stairs at work without needing a shower and life support by the time I reach the top.
**************************
Coffee update - Yup, I'm drinking coffee again but I've been able to limit myself to 2 cups a day. It feels pretty good. So, I'm either a poster child for moderation (my preferred view of the situation) or a total slacker.
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