30 Eylül 2012 Pazar

Water Exercise and Fibromyalgia Pain

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Water exercise or water aerobics is the easiest workout for people with fibromyalgia pain

Warm water can be very comforting. The exercise gets blood flow to muscles and tendons. And if you're in the water, your joints are not being stressed during exercise. Water offers resistance, which helps muscles get stronger.
You don’t need to know how to swim for a water exercise class. In some classes, you work out in shallow water with your head completely above water. In other water aerobic classes, you bob in deep water (with foam belt or life jacket).
The natural buoyancy of water helps you move so you can do exercises that would otherwise be painful. These exercises can be done with an instructor or physical therapist in a heated facility or in a pool.
We're talking 30 minutes, four times a week. That's all. It can make a big difference.

Thalassotherapy for Fibromyalgia: Aquatic exercises in sea water vs. water pool

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A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Aquatic Exercises in Sea Water and Water Pool


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of aerobic exercise in water pool compared with aerobic exercise performed in sea by women with fibromyalgia (FM).

A total of 46 patients were randomly allocated into two groups: pool group (23 patients) and sea group (23 patients) that performed the same aerobic exercise program.
Patients were evaluated baseline and after 12 weeks using: VAS, number of tender points, FIQ (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire), SF-36 (short-form health survey), PSQI (The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) , and BDI (Beck Depression Inventory). Both groups improved significantly in post-treatment for all the evaluated variables.

There were no significant differences between two groups, except for BDI (F=2.418, P<0.0001). href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18600327">PMID: 18600327 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

de Andrade SC, de Carvalho RF, Soares AS, de Abreu Freitas RP, de Medeiros Guerra LM, Vilar MJ. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Postgraduate Program in Health Sciences, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, RN, Brazil. sandra.andrade.fisio@gmail.com

Positive & Negative Energy Effects on Water Crystals, Research by Dr. Masaru Emoto

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Research From Dr. Masaru Emoto, says that human thoughts are directed at water before it is frozen, images of the resulting water crystals will be beautiful or ugly depending upon whether the thoughts were positive or negative. Emoto claims this can be achieved through prayer, music or by attaching written words to a container of water. Since 1999 Emoto has published several volumes of a work titled Messages from Water, which contains photographs of water crystals next to essays and "words of intent".

Balneotherapy at the Dead Sea for Knee Osteoarthritis

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Intermittent balneotherapy at the Dead Sea area for patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Sherman G, Zeller L, Avriel A, Friger M, Harari M, Sukenik S. Department of Medicine D, Soroka University Medical Center and Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel.
February, 2009

BACKGROUND: Balneotherapy, traditionally administered during a continuous stay at the Dead Sea area, has been shown to be effective for patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effectiveness of an intermittent regimen of balneotherapy at the Dead Sea for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS: Forty-four patients with knee osteoarthritis were included in a prospective randomized single-blind controlled study. The patients were divided into two groups:
Treatment group (n=24): treated twice weekly for 6 consecutive weeks in a sulfur pool heated to 35-36 degrees C
Control group (n=20): treated in a Jacuzzi filled with tap water heated to 35-36 degrees C.
Participants were assessed by the Lequesne index of osteoarthritis severity, the WOMAC index, the SF-36 quality of health questionnaire, VAS scales for pain (completed by patients and physicians), and physical examination.

RESULTS: A statistically significant improvement, lasting up to 6 months, was observed in the treatment group for most of the clinical parameters. In the control group the only improvements were in the SF-36 bodily pain scale at 6 months, the Lequesne index at 1 month and the WOMAC pain score at the end of the treatment period. Although the patients in the control group had milder disease, the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS: Intermittent balneotherapy appears to be effective for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

PMID: 19432036 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Research: Thalassotherapy, Exercise and Education improve Fibromyalgia Symptoms

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Spa treatment for primary fibromyalgia syndrome: a combination of thalassotherapy, exercise and patient education improves symptoms and quality of life


Zijlstra TR, van de Laar MA, Bernelot Moens HJ, Taal E, Zakraoui L, Rasker JJ.
Department of Rheumatology, Medisch Spectrum Twente Hospital, Enschede, The Netherlands. t.r.zijlstra@worldonline.nl
April, 2005

OBJECTIVES: To study the effect of a combination of thalassotherapy, exercise and patient education in people with fibromyalgia.

METHODS: Patients with fibromyalgia, selected from a rheumatology out-patient department and from members of the Dutch fibromyalgia patient association, were pre-randomized to receive either 2(1/2) weeks of treatment in a Tunisian spa resort, including thalassotherapy, supervised exercise and group education (active treatment) or treatment as usual (control treatment).
Primary outcome measure was health-related quality of life, measured with the RAND-36 questionnaire. Secondary measures included the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, tender point score and a 6-min treadmill walk test.

RESULTS: Fifty-eight participants receiving the active treatment reported significant improvement on RAND-36 physical and mental component summary scales. For physical health, differences from the 76 controls were statistically significant after 3 months, but not after 6 and 12 months. A similar pattern of temporary improvement was seen in the self-reported secondary measures. Tender point scores and treadmill walk tests improved more after active treatment, but did not reach significant between-group differences, except for walk tests after 12 months.

CONCLUSIONS: A combination of thalassotherapy, exercise and patient education may temporarily improve fibromyalgia symptoms and health-related quality of life.

PMID: 15695301 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

read more on Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) Study & Research

29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

On the way to rainbows and butterflies

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Day five: As a group we have decided to stay in town to interview some people. Unfortunately nobody told the group measuring trees that we weren’t going with them so there is some confusion and, I think, hurt feelings. First we investigate what has happened to last year’s group mango dryers. A severe problem in Haiti is malnutrition. Wouldn’t it be sweet if they had fruit and veggies year round? The dryers are around but not in use, not even the one in the HTRIP manager’s backyard. We talk with the American mechanic at the hospital who has decided to hire half of his recently-fired staff to build mango dryers and sell the product in the market. If they don’t turn a profit in a week, they are fired. This plan has several flaws: it is mango season so why in heck would someone buy a dried one; men do not sellthings in the market; the dried mangos aren’t quite dry enough and therefore don’t store well.  Anyhoo, this guy is acharacter. A veritable genius (Carnegie Mellon robotics anyone?) who refuses tolearn Kreyol he nevertheless imparts several insights on the culture:

“Haitians spend the most money on death, school, charcoal,and cooking oil in that order.”
“To figure out the culture here is like trying to psychoanalyzea teenager.”
“The strong survive. The weak die.”
Later that day we interview one of the technicians andrealize that we have failed to explain ourselves when he finally asks us whothey heck are we.  Oops. The interviewsare enlightening. Most of the technicians believe that HTRIP is doing greatwork and has the interest of the Haitian people in mind. They are generallyoptimistic and constructive suggestions for future success. On the whole,problems cited are logistical. I hope that as we have provided a forum bringthese ideas to the surface…where they will stay and be used.
Day 6: One day we head up to a community whose name I forgetbut we refer to it as “beyond Barbe,” Barbe being the furthest community thatHTRIP is working in. My knees hurt so while the others hike the last fewkilometers I endure the bumpiest ride to man. At one point I actually jump outof the jeep because it seems preferable to hobble than jolt. I have a strangecrisis at one point. There is a teeny tiny market (ie four women selling tinysandwich bags of noodles) along the road. Ross stops to buy a bag which promptsme to wonder if in his well-intentioned way of spending money he has justbought someone else’s very needed noodles. I mean these women probably don’tget new supplies very often. I don’t say anything. In “Beyond Barbe” we meetwith the community to explain what HTRIP is and how it works. (Or rather wewatch the meeting take place.) The way that the program works is that 30 peoplehave to commit to participate the first year and that each year a new 30 willbe trained in tree planting techniques. Coming from Bolivia, the least denselypopulated country in the Western Hemisphere, to Haiti, the most denselypopulated country, I keep finding myself thinking, “But where will they find 30people all the way out here?” But there are people everywhere, even where itappears that only goats go. Additionally this land is steep and rocky andcompletely unsuitable for agriculture…but people plant on the stark hills. Weare told that people arrive at the hospital with injuries caused by “fallingout of their fields” and I can see how this happens. On the way back down I optfor the jeep once again and share a bench with the boniest man ever. He is sosharp that I wouldn’t be surprised if I have lasting damage.
Day 7: We sit in on a staff meeting. The staff goodnaturedly correct the American manager’s Kreyol. He handles it gracefully. Iknow that this week has been stressful. Suddenly 20 nosy graduate students havedescended on his town to question the project as a whole and perhaps even hismanagement. I can see how as a young buck faced by Yalies who appear to havemore experience he could feel intimidated. We try our darndest to encourage himto apply at FES and remind him that our work has not been on the same largescale as his. Anyhoo at the staff meeting the technicians are encouraged to trychaya, a spinach-like plant that is grown as an ornamental in Haiti but whichis superduper nutritious (and yummy!) They also pass around a bag of driedmangoes, completely independent of our nagging about the mango dryer sittingaround in the tree nursery!
Day 8: Not only does it rain but also there is a blockadebetween out hotel and the hospital and HTRIP offices so we just hang out in thehotel. The next day (9!) we are encouraged to escape and so we plan a trip to alocal waterfall. This is the only day that my knees and/or ankles do not hurtand I am assured that the hike is only 20 minutes. It turns out to be about anhour and a half so we swim for about a half an hour and head back. It was notthe most phenomenally planned outing ever. We had been threatening a talentshow for days so that night it was brought to fruition. Somehow we contracted abrass band to play for a bit and then acts included juggling, expandingstomachs, acapella (your very own Loggerythms), and other feats of daring andstrength. The dancing begins soon after but as a swollen party pooper I go tobed early.
being talented

the waterfall!
we are easily amused
Day 9: The next morning we leave pretty darn early for theairport where the passport control tells me that I am too pretty to have adamaged passport. You spill one bottle of water and you’re nagged about it forten years. We are told that all flights out are delayed but we are industriousgraduate students. We watch a Bollywood film, pass around an old Peoplemagazine, play “guess which Asian persuasion,” and host a finger puppet dancevideo (after which we are chastised for being too loud). ..and then we flyhome.
Postscript: At home I am lamenting the lack of food in myrefrigerator when Nara stops by with beer and ice cream. Postscripter: I find out I have Lyme disease. Hence all ofthe ridiculous swelling and soreness.Postscriptest: And Haiti becomes rainbows and butterflies inmy memories.

In which they are delayed

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My primary preparation for 12 days in the super campo was to search high and low for Nutella and/or peanut butter. This, I know from previous experience, is of prime importance so I braved the rain and mud to head to the supermarket. Nutella was unlocatable and the clerks at IC Norte (of which there are many) were surprised by my incredulity. I mean, the building has an Apple store, a Radio Shack and at least two fro-yo places. It is obviously the height of westernization. Why wouldn’t they have Nutella? My other preparations include purchasing a tent and practicing setting up said tent. Anyhoo, once packed, I try to convince a taxista to take me to the office but he refuses citing the fact there is too much traffic. This is in fact true: as it happens the entire stretch of road between my apartment and the office is under construction and by “under construction” I mean that it is closed because they have dug up the road and it is one giant mud pit for 20 blocks or so.
I finally arrive to find that we have postponed departure and that I will be going to the field with Aquilino (A) instead of Ivan (V). I am not sure I’d rather spend 12 days in the woods with: V has worked with me from the beginning and he is somewhat older and more experienced. However, he is somewhat bossy and has that uniquely Latin need for music at all times- even when I’m trying to sleep. A is much calmer and quieter and more precise. He also appears to be able to read my mind which is good because when he does talk it is way too fast for me to understand. He is also cute in a kind of big-headed Bolivian sort of way which worries me because I don’t want to spend two unshowered weeks with someone I find even remotely cute, even if it is only in a big-headed Bolivian sort of way.
Saturday. I am supposed to meet the guys to buy supplies but it seems that they have taken my advice that they will be gringo-priced if I come with and they don’t call until later to tell me to meet them at the office at 2 to head to the bus terminal from there. I have a full backpack with a tent and a thermarest strapped to it and A shows up with one of those carry-on roller suitcases. I feel like a complete douchebag of the consumerist American variety (not for the last time on this adventure I assure you). But I was a Girl Scout, I am a woman, and as my wise sister said “One man’s tent is another man’s sheet strung over a rope” so I think it best to be prepared. (Pro tip: bring mouthwash and floss instead of a toothbrush and toothpaste; it doesn’t require clean water and if things get really bad you can theoretically get drunk on the mouthwash.) Also, everyone has told me that it will be really frikkin’ cold where we are going. I doubt it but I respect the whims of Bolivian weather and pack plenty of sweaters. Anyhoo we pile six people into a station wagon and head off to Gutierrez. I make the guys buy a full case of water because they have only bought 8 liters for 12 days. V tries to convince me that I can drink river water….but no. We arrive in Yumao, set up our camping gear in the school house, and I rediscover that spiders’ eyes glow in the dark and that my pee stream arcs way to the right. The last two, as you may have guessed, happen in our luxurious outhouse which is packed with spiders, packed I tell you! (In fact, one night I refuse to pee because there is a huge spider way too close to my backside, huge I tell you!)
Sunday. That morning we go to eat breakfast at the mburumbicha’s house (Dona E). She is basically the equivalent of the mayor in this community of twenty families…but with less paperwork probably. It is fairly obvious that she has never cooked for a gringa before so I avoid all vegetables and drinking water. I think she might be offended but I’m pretty sure I can’t explain parasites and stomach flora so I choose gastrointestinal security over cultural sensitivity. Walking from breakfast to the river and then back to the school A asks me if I’ve ever eaten wild boar (no) and if I think it will make me sick (no). He then reveals that that was the mystery meat in this morning’s breakfast.
We sit through a ridiculously long meeting on sportfishing, are introduced, and try to explain why the heck we’ll be wandering around the community measuring trees (and dirt, and logs, and stuff). No one wants to volunteer to help. We offer money. Still little interest. The mburumbicha’s husband offers to be our guide and we’ll have to beg more to help later. We spend the rest of the morning hammering numbered plaques to hang on the trees. I take the opportunity to introduce the guys to peanut butter. They quickly realize its curative power but it is unlikely that we will be hungry again on this trip. That afternoon we walk to our first study plot. Our experimental design is pretty flawed (ie we don’t have one) so we just walk down a trail until we find intact forest and start to measure and mark transects. Since I have never done this before and I am very bad at following directions in Spanish, I have some problems. Perhaps it’s not Spanish but Bolivian Spanish. I do not find statements like “more up” and “more down” helpful in guiding me in a flat area.
We have survived a full day!
Fall down count: 1

Bug bite count: 7

In which we get a taste of what can go wrong

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Monday. Fish for breakfast! Yummy! We pretty much measure trees all day. Evidently Bolivians don’t believe in fancy tools to measure height so everything is guesstimated. I don’t doubt their accuracy to the half meter but I wonder how those other missing decimals will skew our results. Mid-day A has to leave for another job to come back on Wednesday so V and I continue. That evening we return to the schoolhouse to find that it is locked. We spend some time scavenging around, looking for where keys might be left but we have to head back to Dona E’s house. Not ten meters down the road we run into her husband coming home from dropping off A and it is fairly obvious that he is drunk. We try to explain the situation but are unavoidably detained and subjected to his repetition of certain facts: Air does not have borders, why should we? We are like brother and sister and he cares for me. He and his wife have 5 or 6 or 7 children, etc etc. V is of little help getting him back on track but Don B finally leaves to return with the keys at which point we are once more regaled with speeches. Development workers take note! His community is upset about the lack of continuity in project supervisors. They feel dumped! Of course they won’t cut down the trees because 1) it’s against the law (?) and 2) you can’t farm on the mountains so why would they clear them. At about 10pm (on a moonless night) Don G glides into the schoolyard in the darkness to try and rescue us. I’m not sure where he has come from or how he did it without a flashlight but he finally wrangles Don B back to his house and we are left to go to bed only to be woken up at 2am by someone else, also drunk, who wants to work with us. Ah conservation. Ah the campo.
Tuesday. On Tuesday we begin to work with Don R who is slightly deaf and perhaps not too bright and the type who instead of asking us to repeat ourselves just does what he thinks we might be saying. The other workers from the community delight in torturing him and their first act is to show him how we mark the trees, by spray painting him at breast height. The day passes remarkably unremarkably until dinner when Don V spills an entire 5 liter jug on Don R.  In the middle of the night I spend a bit more time than average in the outhouse and return to find that V is putting on his boots on the point of coming to look for me. How chivalrous!
Fall down count: 3Bug bite count: bugs really like antibacterial gel!

Anecdote: True but unreliable

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Like my father before me, I often take notes about things thatamuse me and like my father before me, I share them even if they are likelyonly interesting to me. No worries siblings, they do not deal with roadkill,the yard, or advertising slogans, but are vignettes of my life here.

Every day that I work at the Natural History Museum we eatat “Jardin de Pollos” which translates to either Chicken’s Garden or Garden ofChickens. I have pictured it both ways. The former I imagine to be aWilly-Wonka-esque paradise of Technicolor grass with cartoon chicken frolickingabout. The latter is composed of flowers made of chicken fingers and trees withlegs and wings for leaves.  I suppose youhave to be there…in my head. (I also pass “Cheers: the sexy bar and drivethru”every day. I’ll leave that one to you.)
Chicken features in another recent incident. Before leaving forBolivia I was commiserating with my girls about the weight we expected to gainover the summer, as a natural side effect of a diet composed entirely ofpotatoes and rice. They estimated that I would gain about five pounds. When Ishared this information with my colleagues at the museum, they maintained thatI had instead lost 3 kilos and bet me a chicken dinner. Then we set off on athree day odyssey to find a pharmacy with a working scale. As it turns out Idid lose weight! (But not a full 3 kilos and therefore still winning the bet.)I blame the loss on two recent incidents of gastrointestinal distress (two! Ino longer have a stomach of steel!) and ridiculous levels of mate consumption.
Wait! Gastrointestinal distress provides another segue!  But I’m afraid I’ve given away the punchline.While in the campo we only had access to one comfortable chair which wereferred to lovingly as “el sillon del poder” or the lounge chair of power.When I went to visit A’s family he carried with him a bag which turned out toconceal… a new toilet seat!  I then tookto calling my morning ablutions “reposing on the lounge chair of power” to noone’s amusement.  I just hope he didn’tbring the seat because he thought that I couldn’t manage the wobblytoilet-esque structure in the outhouse. Although, truth be told, I almost felloff of it twice.
In every international multilingual situation there isalways a fair share of misunderstanding and idiomatic confusion. My friends inCamargo told me once, “We love hanging out with you Lenni. We have to explaineverything!” This is unfortunately true. A in his infinite patience just sighsand says, “Fine. With drawings.” which has led to some still mutuallyincomprehensible games of Pictionary.
This is not unique to me, or even to conversations inSpanish. O (my fellow intern) has engaged in several interesting conversationslately, one with me and one with her French tango partner. First me. An exact transcript follows:Me: Want a banana?O: oooo. I like bananas.Me: Everyone likes bananas.O: No. Some people hate bananas.Me: Also true.O: Good conversation.And regarding Bernard:
He kept speaking to me in French and I wasn’t sure what todo. Do I respond in English? Spanish? Or with grunts and exaggerated nodding?



So O. I think the only things that you need to know about her are that she walks ridiculously fast, is almost pathologically spontaneous, and very demanding in her purchases. The other day we hit about four markets trying to find a notebook that is spiral, hard covered, without a naked soap star, and with lines instead of graph paper. You may not think this is a tall order to fill…but you would be wrong. We did not meet with success. However, I was heartened to find that I am not the only super-specific-shopper. In fact, the other day I went to the market to find a pair of jeans that are dark, with pockets that open, and no rips or rhinestones. I settled for green jeans with front pockets that don’t open but back ones that do and teeny tiny rhinestones on the butt. We can’t have everything but we can still be content. In fact, on this same shopping trip I passed a beggar eating a gigantic piece of cake. He looked up at me and gave me the most beautiful smile.

The End.

Phoenicopterus versus Calliophis in Ficus

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One day, O called me and said that if she didn’t escape fromSanta Cruz she would throw herself in front of the next passing micro (bus). Itried to convince her that that was a very bad idea because medical care hereis substandard and even if she did happen to die immediately it would be allover the news and not in the tasteful glossed-over American way but showing herbloodied dead body lying in the road while some women wail tearfully about whata good person she was and the theme music from Titanic swells in thebackground. When that failed (perhaps O hasn’t seen the Bolivian news yet) Iagreed to accompany her to El Jardin de las Delicias, some waterfalls about anhour out of town.
Of course, given her spontaneity we instead wound up inBuena Vista, about three hours out of town where we walked about aimlesslyunable to find the good coffee place, the parks office, or the hostel we hadchosen. We resigned ourselves to eat cheese empanadas and walk to the marsh tobirdwatch when after coming very close to being attacked by a large dog weaccidentally located the parks office. You see, we were on the border of AmboroNational Park. There we talked with a park guard who said he could have his sontake us on his motorcycle to an ecovillage, likely arriving before dark if ofcourse the river wasn’t too too flooded, where we could stay the night and gohiking the next day before having to return to the city and work.  In a split second O had agreed and wesuddenly found ourselves hugging teenaged biker boys riding into the sunset.(I’m not really exaggerating.) The journey took about two hours in which we hadto dismount from our bikes and cross rivers about ten times. Since I expectedthat we would be at a waterfall all day I was wearing sandals; for once poorwardrobe planning worked out. We arrived at a pasture in the dark to findanother teenaged boy waiting to walk us the rest of the way (about 3kmaccording to a sign I spied).
The road was very very muddy and I lagged behind O andFranklin, as his name turned out to be, who both walk at superhuman speeds. Itsoon got too dark to even see them but luckily I had a flashlight. Because I amstill a neurotic Bolivian traveler, I always have a flashlight, toilet paper,crackers, a towel, and at least a liter of water. O did not have any of this;nor did she bring a change of undies. Soon we encountered a woman on a horsewho also accompanied us. At this point my sandal choice no longer seemed wiseas I had mud squishing between my toes and no traction. At one point I justtipped over and fell into a large mud puddle making some interesting noises onboth the way down and the way back up. Something akin toaaaaaaaaaaahshiiiitsqueeeeelch.
We finally arrived to camp and were met with dinner and tea.Dinner was the same thing I ate every morning in the campo: rice, meat, andpotatoes all mixed together in a bowl…except infinitely better because it alsohad tomato sauce. We learned a bit about the village and how it fits within anationwide network of community tourism locales, set the schedule for the nextday, washed our feet, and went to bed.  Iwish I had written down some of the stuff our host and guide Dalmiro (D) saidbecause not only was he intelligent and enthusiastic about his work but he wasalso very funny in an understated Bolivian sort of way. I also wish I had takena photo of him because he reminded me of someone that I haven’t been able tofigure out and maybe you readers could have helped me out.
That night, despite being in the campo my phone rang (it wasthe guy who’s stalking me even though I told him I have a boyfriend whom Ibased loosely on the ex-BBT, A, and Wolverine) and I was so confused because mybed was facing the wrong way. Also I had a dream about giant insects andhowling monkeys…probably because there were bats in our cabin and the monkeysoutside were howling.
We woke up at about 6:30 to walk to the marsh to birdwatch.Neither O and I are really birdwatchers but we played along at beingsilent-sitter-ers with binoculars. D regaled us with a story about whyflamingos have red legs that are always in water, a story I was super proud tobe able to repeat to my friends later in understandable Spanish. As it turnsout all the animals went to a party. Here D expounded at length about severaldetails like the invitations, the seating configuration, and the dancesperformed with the only relevant details being that the flamingos had paintedtheir legs in red and white and black and were quite flamboyant dancers andthat the snakes got super drunk super quick. The drunken snakes determined thatthe flamingos were wearing snake skins, got super heated, and bit the flamingoswho in an effort to keep their fevers down and legs from swelling stuck them inLake Poopo in Oruro. (I don’t know if the flamingos in Florida went to adifferent party or just retired there.) On the way back to breakfast we stoppedat an almond tree where D told us that sometimes worms lived in the nuts andyou could eat them and they too tasted like almonds. I’m not sure why you wouldeat the worms instead of the nut but I did anyway much to O’s shock and horror. Besides grubs, breakfast was a delicious yucca and cheese fritter (sonso),oranges, and tea made of cedron.
Being fortified we then set off on the “interpretativetrail.” D told us all about the ajo tree which you can use to cure a snakebite, as a mosquito repellant, or an opposite sex repellant.  We saw some tiger tracks (and heard the storyof the tiger caught by the Mennonites who I later visited in the zoo. Thetiger, not the Mennonites), some giant armadillo tracks, and severalinteresting trees about which I asked an appropriate amount of questions. Weran into a trail of biting ants and since we could not circumvent them becausea tree had fallen on the alternate path we rolled up our pant legs and ranthrough them. I got bitten about four times on each foot which immediatelybegan to swell but it was ok because we had arrived at the river. Again I wasfaced with the dilemma of “how appropriate is it to strip down to my undies?”We did it anyway and neared the edge. O stuck a toe in and reported that it wascold but knowing that I would never get in if I tested the water first I justjumped right in, much to O’s shock and horror. We swam for approximately tenminutes before our appendages went numb. When I came out I noticed D puttingaway his binoculars. I wonder if he was observing the lovely gringa faunabecause I was later told that Bolivian women, no matter how tight theirclothing or how short their skirts, never jump into rivers in their undies.


(This actually falls into the category of things I wish Ahad told me earlier. Things like: don’t wear that gold chain. Someone willsteal it off you on the micro; Don’t swim in only your undies. It is notculturally appropriate; You have marker on your face. )
We returned the way we came braving the ants and arriving athome base to a delicious meal of lentils and rice and beet salad. It annoyed mea little that O insisted on choking down her beets even though she hates themand I love them and would have gladly taken them off her hands. After packingup our things we arranged to return to town on horseback and by taxi whichturned out to be infinitely cheaper and significantly more uncomfortable. Itwas a little awkward because Franklin walked with us instead of riding and dueto this and the fact that I am not really a good rider our voyage took about aslong as if we had just walked instead. I am proud that I didn’t fall off myhorse dismounting when we arrived because not only had my ass gone numb but Ialso really really had to pee. After a quick potty break we arrived in BuenaVista (freezing cold due to two hours of inactivity and wet underwear) andcaught a bus to Santa Cruz. Technically we caught a bus to a town about an houroutside of Santa Cruz where we had to wait for a shared taxi. 
There is no rhymeand reason to transportation in Bolivia so every time a shared taxi arrivedeveryone would make a mad dash for it, pushing and shoving and piling on top ofeach other. Unfortunately O and I share the non-pushy characteristics but in astrange chain of events we ran into an English speaking Bolivian couple who intheir skill at shoving and trampling saved two seats for us….and so we arrivedsafely to our respective houses.
On the journey I shared with O that I am trying to be morespontaneous and she admitted to wanting to be better at planning and thinkingthings through. We will either be a good team or we will destroy each other.I’ll keep you posted.

28 Eylül 2012 Cuma

I am feeling so great!

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Nothing like an agreeable scale to make you feel good, huh? That and the weather. I simply love, love, love fall. Only thing I don't like about it is the shortening days as there's not enough time in the day to enjoy it!

Yesterday, my husband and I took a bike ride together. We wanted to see how strenuous a ride it was up to a local park fairly close to us. I wanted to try it on my single bike first before taking the tandem with my son. That thing is a beast and without a lot of help from the 7 year old pedaler, I have to be able to do it myself.

Well, I think we'll be able to manage it, but I'm not sure. My almost new bike (it is 18 months old, but I haven't ridden it much as I ride the tandem one much more often as I usually have the younger guy with me), isn't working properly. The internal shifters, supposedly low maintenance, are messed up.

The bike has a minimal of 7 gears. It's the same as I have on the tandem - which is also internal gears and works fine despite being a much older bike with more use. Anyway... What works: 2-4-5-6. I'm not even sure if they are those gears. It 'tries' to go into 1st gear, but can't. I can't even get the shifter to get to 7th and the 3rd and 4th gears are the same. It could be that I have gears 1-2-3-5, or worse  3-5-6-7. I need those lower gears for the hills! So, I will have to take the bike in. I'm not happy about it as it was not a cheap bicycle! Grrrr...

My clothes are all fitting better and I just took some measurements yesterday morning and they are back to where they were before I went on vacation, but... they are still an inch higher than when I weighed this same weight on March 1st! UGH. Muscle is smaller than fat. Must mean I have more fat than I did in March. Darn it!  Well, only thing to do is to keep working on it as I am. It too shall follow! But I am making progress!

Stats for 9/24/12:

Highest Weight: 275  Now: 172.6

If money weren't an issue, would I get surgery?

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I was just asking myself this question after reading another thread. I know I will never have skin removal surgery because it's a moot point. It's not covered by health insurance for most people and I'm sure I would never be able to convince a doctor of it's necessity either as it doesn't hinder me or cause me problems in any way.

But I never asked myself, "well, what if money wasn't an issue?" Would I get the surgery?" And you know... I don't know. I have loose skin on my abdomen that could be taken care of by surgery and I have terrible bat wings. My inner thighs are wiggly too - not sure anything can be done about that one.

I ask myself, "Would I be willing to put up with the pain and healing for vanity?" As, for me, it would be about vanity. And, could I risk serious health side effects and even death for vanity? Again, I don't know... I'm thinking that even if everything was covered by insurance and that I didn't even have to pay a copay or deductible, I wouldn't do it.

And I think that's because I'm 42. I would probably feel differently if I were 25 or something. I'm married, plan to stay married. I'm scarred by pregnancies and my husband loves me and is happy with my body now. So... why would I risk so much? I might be willing to risk more if I had more years of feeling young and beautiful ahead of me.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think you need to roll over and die when you hit 50. I want to be a rocking 50! 60! and on up. I want people to say, "look at that grandma go!" But I guess I can forgive my body for having more imperfections at this age than I would have been able to do when I was much younger.

On the other hand... once in awhile I get a tickle in my brain about, "Wouldn't it be great to rock my clothes without loose skin? Wouldn't it be great to erase (or mostly erase) from my body the evidence of my fat past? But then... why did I let myself get fat in the first place? I wish I could figure that one out the most!



Trying to figure out what size jeans to buy - not easy

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So, I am joining the Rock Your Jeans event my gyms are hosting. I was going to do it, then my partner backed out, so I thought, "maybe this is a sign and I shouldn't do it" and then someone I work with asked me if I was going to do it and if I wanted to partner up, so I said OK. As an added bonus, since I work for the organization, I get a significant discount (woohoo!) I'm also going to use this opportunity to write for work about various classes - trying out new ones, etc.

Anyway... here's the description of the program: http://www.columbiafitness.org/perso...sInfoSheet.pdf

In this program, you are supposed to buy a pair of jeans 2 sizes smaller than you currently wear and see how you progress in 8 weeks. Or, bring in a pair that are too small now that you wish to fit into soon. I don't have the latter, so I need to buy jeans in a size (or two) smaller.

I currently wear, quite comfortably, a size 10 in several brands - Calvin Klein, DKNY, Eddie Bauer, Anne Tayler, Anne Klein. I have a size 8 in Ralph Lauren that fit fine. When I was getting down to 165 with working out in weights and cardio, I was in between an 8 and a 10, but... what I was finding was that my hip bones were what was keeping me from going from a 10 to an 8 where all along the rest of the journey, it was the waist line.

I know I'll be doing more heavy lifting (reading and gearing up for NRFL program) and I will be building more muscle, so getting smaller, but I'm wondering if two sizes for me is unrealistic?

If I get another pair of pants, it should be of the same brand and style to be like for like. Right now I can wear 8-12 depending on the designer and cut. However, I just cannot see myself wearing a size 6 (or so I thought - more on this in a moment) Yet, I'm probably not that far now from being able to wear 8s.

Deciding what size to buy is difficult. It will be more than 2 months from purchasing said pants, so returning them won't be possible in most stores even with tags still attached. I have to decide if  I should go with a 6? or an 8?

My height 5'6.5", 173 pounds and my current measurements are 40.5-32-41.5. When I was at 165 I was 40-31-41. I would love, love, love, love, love (add a few more loves to that) to get maybe my bust and hopefully my hip measurements out of the 40s. If I can do that, I will not feel like such a freaking tank!

My shape - according to calculators, I'm straight shaped as the different between waist and hip isn't great, but I do not look good in low rise pants. There's nothing to hold them up. I need midrise for the best fit and either straight leg or skinny leg, not boot leg - believe me.

Anyway, I just went to TJMaxx and tried on these jeans. I had forgotten my camera at home. I wish I hadn't as I would have liked to show you all the fit of these jeans! I am in utter SHOCK.

So... I was wearing a pair of DKNY size 10 that were a comfortable fit. I think they fit perfectly. Well... found out something interesting.

 I took back to the dressing room these brands and sizes - why these? because these were the brands and cuts they had in all three sizes.

Size 10: wearing a DKNY midrise straight leg, Not Your Daughter's Jeans (NYDJ) boot leg, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg

Size 8: DKNY midrise straight leg, NYDJ boot leg, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg, Ralph Lauren Boot Cut

Size 6: DKNY midrise straight leg, NYDJ boot leg, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg, Ralph Lauren Boot Cut

Size 4: Michael Kors Boot Cut

Now, as I said, I do not look good in boot cut, but I was wanting to check fit of the pant in the waist and hip. I would worry about finding the right cut of the leg only when I'm ready to buy.

What I found: 

Size 10: wearing a DKNY midrise straight leg - fit fine, NYDJ boot leg - too big in hips, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg- can't get them over my hips easily

Size 8: DKNY midrise straight leg - fit perfectly, NYDJ boot leg - fit perfect, but I hate the style, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg- couldn't get it over my hips, Ralph Lauren Boot Cut - fit slightly snug in the thighs

Size 6: DKNY midrise straight leg - fit slightly snug, but not a serious muffin top, NYDJ boot leg - fit slightly snug, again, not a serious muffin top, but I still hate the style, Levis Bold Curve Straight Leg didn't even try it, Ralph Lauren Boot Cut - couldn't get it over my hips easily and too tight in the leg

Size 4: Michael Kors Boot Cut - fit slightly snug.

Why did I even have the size 4? it was the last size 4 in the line next to the 6s and it looked big. I decided to try it, just to see.

Now, what in the heck do I do???? In the brands that fit me now, I can fit (without cutting myself in half) into a size 6. How can the same cut of pant fit me in 10, 8 and 6?

Truly, what is the size difference between a 6-8-10. It must be incredibly little. yet in levis- I couldn't even begin to put those on in a size 10!

Basically, I have no idea what size I wear and what size should be my goal size and forget knowing what size to buy for this getting fit event. Good grief!

When I was a 20, it took 20-25 pounds to drop one size. Same on down to 14. Then from 14 to 12 to 10 it's been about 10 pounds per size, but now??? Is it like 5 pounds? What?

I'm in for it now - working with a personal trainer

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I did an interview today with one of the people in charge of the personal trainers with the organization I work for and for where I go to the gyms. I had no idea there was so much you get when you hire a personal trainer.

So, I learned a lot about what I'll be getting very soon with the Rock Your Jeans Challenge. For the Rock Your Jeans challenge, I'll be meeting with a personal trainer once a week for 8 weeks. In the first meeting, they spend an hour doing all sorts of tests - and I mean a lot of tests. Then, in the next week, they go over everything and use that information as a baseline as well as information on things that need work (along with your wishes) to come up with a program.

I just had absolutely no idea that they took measurements, used a fancy scale (no idea how accurate it is), did a stress test, a flexibility test, a physical fitness test (to exhaustion test) as well as a test on body alignment, and more. I'm sure I'm going to find out all sorts of things I had no idea about. I hope some of it is good news and not all bad!

When you are finished, they will retest many things to see your progress. This is, of course, what makes it worth it. Even if you don't see a loss on the scale, you should see gains everywhere else - flexibility, strength, agility, well, ok, losses of inches on the measuring tape!

I'm sure for most everyone this is super embarrassing, but hey... I can't see how I got better if I don't go through it.

And, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to do this until recently, which is a shame really as I think it would have been really useful to have this service - helping me along the way so that I had more support with my weight loss journey and my fitness improvement.

I had a few people tell me it would be useful, but there were several reasons for not doing it. 1. and mostly, was that I was embarrassed with my weight and my lack of fitness. Who did that hurt? No one but me, of course.

2. Money. with me not working, it was too difficult of me to ask my husband if it was OK to spend the money on a personal trainer. Don't get me wrong, he probably would have agreed to it if I felt it would have been useful, but I would have felt guilty about it. I would have wondered, always, if I was wasting money or not during a time we were pinching pennies more than now- like "Maybe I could have done just as well on my own without spending all this money."

And I guess 3. is Fear of disappointing someone else. I didn't know what I was capable of. I was afraid of failure. And, since I am a people pleaser, I was afraid of letting down a trainer. I want to be able to live up to what they expect of me. I didn't want to find it was too hard and that I gave up. Maybe not on all of it, but it would be hard for me to go to a gym later if I felt I didn't give my all to PT sessions. My problem, yes, but that's the way I am.

Now, with some time at this and some more personal growth. (Yes... even at 42 you can still grow! ) I'm ready for it. I'm ready for getting somewhere it would be difficult for me to do on my own and I know now that I'm really only disappointing myself and hurting myself if I give up or don't give my all. Personal trainers will care (if they are good), but they also won't be dissappointed in me either if I can't do one more push-up.

Will I decide I want to do more after these 8 weeks (besides continuing with working on my fitness)? Who knows. The gym will have a Biggest Winner contest in January and then following that The Next Great Eight (for the next 8 weeks following the Biggest Winner event). That would give me 24 weeks of personal training at a discount, working with others with similar goals to my own. Might even help me meet some new people too. (I still have a pathetically horrible social circle!)

All I know is that I'm looking forward to working with a personal training and working hard for this last bit of the year and I'm glad I'm overcoming a lot of my hangups.



Trying on all sorts of jeans today!

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I tried on some jeans yesterday at Ann Taylor, but didn't have time for more. Today, I'm taking the day to go shopping for jeans. I'm going to try on all sorts of jeans. Ones that I wouldn't normally even look at. I just want to see what is out there and what looks good.

I will take my camera with me and I will show different sizes and styles. I even wore a form fitting T-shirt today so it doesn't cover up the jeans (and muffin top) too much.

When I was at Ann Taylor yesterday, I tried on their Skinny Modern jeans (didn't have time for others). I fit the 8 and the 6, though a bit snug, wasn't too bad either. I just didn't like the cut of the jeans. The pockets were too low and the leg of the pants were too skinny. I prefer more of a straight cut.

The sales associate, when I returned the garments to the rack said that I was trying the wrong sort of jeans for my body. She started pulling all these boot cut and flared cut jeans. Some with slash pockets in the front. They are just so not me. And how can a 50 plus year old women, with a completely different build from mine (she was tiny), and 3 - 4 inches shorter than me know what looks best on me by seing me standing in front of her with a dress on?  (Here's what I was wearing yesterday):



While I agree the jeans I tried weren't great, I am pretty sure they are better than the boot cut. I told the sales associate that and she said, "that's because you wear the wrong shoe with the boot cut. That's why they look bad." So... you're supposed to wear a different kind of shoe just to make a pair of pants look better? How about I wear good comfortable shoes and buy pants that work with the shoes. It's the SHOES that are important (as I only buy shoes that don't hurt/harm my feet.).

With straight leg pants - I can wear flats, sneakers, boots or even a shoe with a bit of a heel. Ugh... Anyway, I left un-impressed. I hate sales associates bugging me. I know it's all about a commission, but for some people, it's best to leave them alone. If they aren't looking around for help or giving signals for help, they probably don't want help.

Anyway... I'm off! Busy day today! I'll post a ton of photos tomorrow - and not just flattering ones - but real and true!

27 Eylül 2012 Perşembe

I don't want to be a shit-disturber, but really.....

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So......I have been struggling with something.  I work for the Government of Canada.  We have a policy that says that we are not to book meetings or do business with places that are inaccessible.  Yet the department I work in consistently books some meetings (mostly for social reasons such as retirement or going away parties) at a nearby venue...an air force mess hall...that is completely inaccessible.  Stairs to get in, and more stairs once you get in.  I can't tell you the number of times over the years in which I have declined invitations to one event or another at this location, and explained why I cannot attend.  Recently, I learned that a colleague had booked a work-related meeting at this venue.  I thought, "I have to do, or say, something".  I know that these incidents are never intentional.  And the people booking the meetings probably never stop to think about what they are doing, and the attitudes they are reinforcing.  They probably think, if they stop to think, well no-one coming to the meeting is disabled, so it's not really an issue. And I wonder how they would react if the same venue had a sign outside that said, "blacks not welcome", or "women not allowed", or "no Jews".  Because a venue that is not accessible is saying that people like me are not welcome, that we are not valued, that we are not part of the community.

So I am going to raise this issue at our next management meeting.  And I hope that my colleagues will agree that if someone discriminates against one of us, they discriminate against all of us. And maybe, if this venue loses a regular clientele, they will do something about their lack of access.

leadership and innovation

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I am musing about something;  something that concerns me about our public service. There was an article in the Economist about changes to our wireless world.  The article spoke about what various companies are up to, mentioning Verizon which is about to launch the next wireless technology, called LTE, that will make wireless connectivity so much easier.  And you can bet that Verizon is not content to focus on LTE.  Undoubtedly, they are already thinking about and planning for what comes after LTE.  It is all about a relentless quest to innovate.  Of course, driven by a desire for increased market share.


And it makes me wonder about our public service.  Where is OUR relentless drive to innovate, to make things better?  Do we even think about what happens beyond next week, next month?  We are so driven by the now.  And we are driven by our tiny preoccupations, in our respective divisions.


What if our motivation was to continuously improve our service offerings to Canadians, while driving down the costs of those offerings?


Can innovation only occur when there is a profit motive?  Are there other ways to spur creativity and innovation in the public sector?


I worry that we are too big, too bloated and too complacent.  Things are working "okay", so there is no real impetus for change.  It reminds me a bit of our conversations in Argentina.  They too have a reasonable standard of living in a beautiful country, and so they are content to muddle along.


I am going to take a look at my sector, and what we are responsible for, and I am going to put my question to my team.  How can we continuously improve what we do, for the benefit of Canadians, while driving down our costs of doing it.


Should be an interesting conversation!

in search of the right question

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So, last week I was at a presentation by a highly respected former public servant, and he was musing about the state of leadership in our public service. And he commented that we had become a blander group of people, and in particular, that we were losing our policy "touch".  We have become homogeneous, safe, risk-averse.  He was at pains to say that this was not griping about the golden days of yore, but rather an observation based on the work he does these days with public servants.  He said that we no longer tolerate the "wacky, creative types".

And I wondered, is this true?  Who did he mean by wacky and creative?  Does this refer to the prickly, brilliant men of 20 years ago?  Was there indeed a golden age of policy? Is wacky code for someone who screams at colleagues? at subordinates?  Are we really suffering from a lack of creativity? I have mixed feelings on this one.  On the one hand, I do observe in some instances a lack of policy capacity....I fear this is particularly true in the HR area, where many good people have been trained to think of themselves as doers and implementers of rules.  On the other hand, I have been fortunate to work with people with remarkable policy minds, nimble and creative, inventive and forward-looking.  And I think that it is harder to do policy now, because everything is interconnected and, therefore, linear or cartesian thinking doesn't necessarily get you where you need to go.  Now, you need to be able to think in terms of networks, systems and connections...the image that comes to my mind is of a neural network.

And it got me to thinking....how can I create an environment for my staff and my colleagues that will enable this kind of thinking?  What can I say and do?  I believe profoundly that there is room and there is a desire and there is a need in the public service for innovation and creativity.  And we need to be mindful and always on our toes to avoid the easy slip into complacency, or worse, thinking that as leaders it is up to us to have all the answers.  It is not easy. We work in a culture that expects people to come equipped with the answers....in which "i don't know" is perceived as weakness....so how to balance the legitimate need to get things done in a timely fashion, with room for the reflection that leads to inspiration?

Next chapter

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So here I am, after some absence, embarking on the next adventure. We are en route to brussels, then oslo, then onto two cities in india: bengalore and delhi. This trip fills me with anticipation...excitement at the prospect of visiting new places, and a little scared at what promises to be some interesting mobility challenges in india!
I have been doing a lot of thinking about leadership, and what it means for our public service today...and tomorrow. I hope to share my experiences honestly...and this time, with photos!

my brain hurts!

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And so here we are en route to Oslo, Norway, after 2.5 packed days in Brussels.  We have had meetings with representatives of the European Union and NATO…and  all of this playing out against a backdrop of the killing of Osama bin Laden and the Canadian federal election. 
I am trying to process everything we have experienced, but it is difficult.  The combination of jet lag, back-to-back meetings, and too much food makes it hard to make sense of it all. 
Let me try.  I am starting to get an idea about leadership.  That it is a combination of factors….yes, certainly, the ability to articulate a vision and strive to achieve it is one….but it is also the ability to harness the energies of others…and not in a hierarchical way, but almost in an intuitive way of reading the moment and providing the space for something new or better to emerge.  I don’t know how we cultivate this talent in our hierarchical universe.  The pressure to deliver, the imperative for short-term results  may  favour those who are more inclined to direction.  And I ask myself, do I have the ability to back away?  Do I even want to?

And then there was another dawning realisation.  Listening to the bureaucrats from the EU, I found myself thinking, “ is this what we sound like to non-bureaucrats”?  It was an awful moment…we were being bored witless by a series of safe, measured observations on the mechanics of decision-making at the EU….by someone clearly fascinated by the subject matter…but incapable of making it interesting.  As one of our other speakers mentioned later, “it is a system designed for paralysis”…in which accountability is almost impossible to establish, and in which every country has a veto, and in which there is a mania for creating new committees and structures designed to make things better, but in the end it seems as though all they really do is talk about how they ought to do things.
Perhaps I simply failed to understand, but it seemed to me bureaucracy run amok.  It reminded me a bit of my experiences with IT specialists, who sometimes can become  so enamoured of the systems, that they forget why they were created:  to support the business, to make it easier to achieve better results.
Now, I admit that I have a bias towards action, but I worry that this obsession with process is a great way to avoid having to do anything.  And perhaps it makes me reflect a bit on our own system, which certainly has its own bias to process.  Is this the price we pay to live in a comfortable country? Does inattention to process lead to chaos and ineffective public institutions?  Does anyone get the balance right?  
Oh, I pray that the fog that is clouding my brain will lift!  Perhaps I need to eat more fish....and so, off to dinner in Norway!


26 Eylül 2012 Çarşamba

Of consensus and state capitalism

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Our brief visit to Oslo was very intriguing.  It is the richest country on earth, blessed with a huge supply of oil and gas.  It also has a very industrialized past in shipping and fishing, with an excellent labour force. As one of our speakers noted, “we are about the sea…underneath it, in it, and on it”.They are a fascinating example of a socially progressive country trying to deal with massive wealth (a sovereign wealth fund valued at 500B).  They are managing this wealth cautiously…NOT using it to lower taxes, or invest in mega infrastructure.  Rather, they are using it as a rainy day fund, investing it much as pension funds are invested…cautiously and for the longer term.  It is a country that has been remarkably cohesive.  There is a social contract that everyone…government, business and labour…adheres to.  Their systems seem designed to keep things moving forward carefully and sustainably.  I was surprised by the consistency of messaging from the variety of people with whom we met.  Being a small country, they put enormous emphasis on the rule of law, and international frameworks.  They are also adamant about the importance of evidence-based decision-making and the importance of science.  There were concerns that advocates have supplanted hard science (this in respect to oil and gas development).
The degree of consensus was impressive.  At one point, however, I found myself asking whether it was too good to be true? 
The downside was accessibility.  Full marks to our wonderful hotel, the Continental,  however the same could not be said for every place we visited.  One ministry, housed in the former Gestapo headquarters, did not have accessible washrooms…and most of the existing ones were accessed via a flight of stairs!  And many of the shops in the downtown were completely inaccessible.  It appears that older buildings are not required to accommodate wheeled people.  That meant that I spent no money at all on purchases.  And I could not understand how a society so given to social cohesion and so unbelievably wealthy, would not have universal access.  Disappointing.

incredible india!

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What can I say?  I think I am falling in love!  Yes, it is noisy.  Yes, it is crowded.  Yes, there is poverty.  But it is spectacularly beautiful.  You can smell the fragrant flowering trees in the breeze.  They are a remarkably handsome population.  They dress beautifully.  They are gracious and kind.  They are amazing entrepreneurs.Maybe it is Bengalore that is causing me to swoon.  From our arrival (at 1:30 a.m.!) at their new, lovely international airport, to our walk to the cars in the soft night air, to our spectacular greeting at the hotel (ITC Windsor), we are having a rich experience. I was greeted with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and when I asked for a vase in which to keep them, the charming man asked whether I would give him permission to take them away, and put them in an arrangement.  Which they did. Below is the photo. 





Our first day was supposed to be more touristy, and we had lined up a visit to an ashram about 45 minutes from our hotel.  Just before leaving, we were advised that the spiritual leader, Sri Sri Ravishankar, was present and would be available for a private audience.  What a treat!  It is a lovely location, and there were thousands of people milling about, waiting for the open-air session with the guru.  He was very charming, and spoke to us about his leadership model, which is really about facilitating others.  At the same time, he acknowledged that he had been driven from a very young age by a vision of a world without violence and without stress, and he has dedicated his life to that vision. And he now has a presence in many countries, and a separate foundation dedicated to world peace.  We started with a meditation session, which was all about stilling the loud voices and listening to oneself.  I could sense the scepticism of my colleagues, and was trying hard to suspend my own tendency to judgement.  The guru's followers seemed a very happy group of people, dedicated to their cause.  They are doing a lot of good work with the rural poor in India, and with prisoners and at-risk youth in many countries.  They have no religious affiliation...they are promoting an approach to meditation with the goal of a more harmonious world.  Who knows?
We also met a beautiful elephant named Indrani, who let me pat her trunk.



  And we visited the ayurvedic university he has set up where he had a brief tour of the facilities.  We finished up in the magical temple…a bit like a rounded wedding cake, all white and pink (for lotus blossoms) and gold, and with breathtaking views in every direction.  
And the food here in Bengalore!  Oh my.  Even trying to stick to vegetarian food here, I can feel my waist expanding. 
So looking forward to the rest of our meetings.  What a great start!




new hairdo n peg...

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Was a busy day yesterday! i had to be up early for the hairdressers i got a new fringe put on my hair coz my hiar kept annoying me with it always getting in my face luckily i suit fringes!
The nurse came soon after to change my PEG a week early because ive been having a few leakage infection probs so she took a swab as well as changing the PEG. its been dry so far.  Lets hope it stays that way!

here is my new hairdo  and ive been keeping busy doing lots of crafts and chiling out with my carer victoria we have been to the pet stop a few times coz im hoping to get a bird as a pet ive seen one i like but i hope they dont sell him before i can buy him!

shit shit shit

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i think from title im having a shit day!! im on these new pills and they arent doing me any good!! i just feel so tired and shit allt he time! i feel even worse than i did last yr!!! urgh on a good note we got some antibioitcs for my bad PEG infectioon so hopefully that will get better soon Why does dating have to be SO hard?? i mean for normal ppl its fine but for disbaled ppl its ten time worse when no one likes us!!! Is it sSOO much that i want  a nice guy just ONE nice guy to give me a hug when i get home?? urgh sorry for my rant!

eye appointment,.,.

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yesterday i went to newcastle but we couldnt find a hotel to stay over night so we all had to get up at 7 am urgh i was sooooooooo tired!! i couldnt stop yawing the whole journey up to newcastle!!

we got there about 12 oclock and then we went to eye appointment and saw the eye doc patrick  he was happy with my eye but ihave to keep taking the drops 4 times a day in my eye and he was happy with the scar from the previous opertaiton.

Then we went to see Prof Turnbull for our yearly check up  he said he might have some work on the new mito website for me yay!!

Then on the way home we stopped off at the Angal of the North sicne it was a nice day  it was verrrrrry windy up there too! all i could hear were whoooooooooshes! It aws nice to finaly see it in person than drive past it all the time.

the weather was soooooooooooo gorgeous  u thought the sky was so blue!