Daddy, Papa and Me

If the worst-case global warming scenario comes true, do you want to see if your house will be underwater or if that piece of land you bought will soon become oceanfront property? Check out this site. Use the map feature (I found it easier to use than the satelllite feature) and put it on 8 meters (predictions of sea level rise in 2100). Our house is safe, but boy... I feel sorry for Sacramento.

This is interesting, cool and freaky: A prediction of millions/billions of micro-computers.. as in truly microscopic... monitoring _everything_ in nature. Cool, freaky, science fiction becoming fact and well.. spine-tingling.

oh, and keep an eye out for an entry about my experience with sleep apnea, i'm getting treatment.. and i'm becoming an obnoxious evangalist for the changes it can make in your life! more later...

And speaking of climate change, if you want solid and balanced view of global warming, go to Real Climate, a site/blog written by climate scientists. It's remarkably balanced, neither hyping the more extreme 'evironmental distaster' Cassandras, nor denying the reality of global warming, it does a pretty good job of 'just the facts, maam'.

More research has come out showing the link between sleep apnea and heart disease.

Fixing my sleep apnea last year hasn't solved _all_ my problems. I'm still an unfocused, easily distracted, frenetic minded person. But, I'm a damn alert one! Every once in a while I catch myself remembering what it was like 'pre-dawn' (I tell you again and again, that is what it was like, a dawning), or feeling completely surprised that I don't fall asleep at my desk even after only getting 6 hours of sleep (used to do it at 8-9 hours of sleep every day).

So, that was the short-term benefit.

I'm also fascinated by longevity studies (not that I want to live _forever_, just a long healthy time).

My family has a history of heart disease. I wish I caught the sleep apnea early, but dang glad it was fixed when it was. As a doctor friend said "It probably added 7 years to your life" (not sure where he got "7" from).

Now.. maybe.. I'll fix the exercise and weight thing.

Emma's pediatrician early on asked us _not_ to allow Emma to drink fruit juice because for the most part juices are high sugar (fructose), low nutrition liquids that would contribute to obesity. We were pretty good with that for a long time. Basically, we only fed her orange juice (relatively healthy) mixed with water 1-2 parts juice to 1 part water. As she got older though, this year mainly, she's insisted on full strength orange juice, which we've allowed.

Well, new research says that there is no link between obesity and consumption of...now this is the important part... non-sugar-added juice.

There is a hierarchy of juices though...

Well, apparently she was. Honey looks like, based on some research, to be as an effective tool as any in alleviating a cough for kids.

It is working, so far. I am getting a better feel for good portion sizes, I'm definitely eating a lot more fruits and vegetables, I've changed some what I cook for supper. For example today we had Penne Arrabiata and green beans with feta, walnuts and basil. The feta was reduced fat and the penne was whole grain. It was 8 points total (I'm allowed 36 points a day) and the serving was definitely enough to make me feel satisfied. Yesterday I made a desert of rice pudding that was actually quite good! and it was healthy (skim milk, no eggs). So, it's helping.

And it's definitely not total denial. I figured out yesterday I could eat an ENTIRE pint of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey (my favorite) and use 25 of my 35 "weekly points" (these are points you can use to splurge a bit.

So, it seems to be working so far.

So just over a week ago Guy got sick where he threw up over and over for a day, had a headache, but no fever. Guy's sister-in-law and brother had the same thing, though we haven't been around them for a few months (They live in Utah). A few friends had the same thing. Then Emma came home from school yesterday with the same thing.

Vomiting for about a day, headache, but no other symptoms like fever, etc. Then it's gone.

I'm bracing myself, but since all those shots I got from the Army before Desert Storm I almost never get the flu or anything like it (colds are another matter).

Emma is better today, but we kept her home from school just in case.