I am in Texas this morning

Dragon mood? -- a little bit sad

I am in Texas this morning in my thoughts. My uncle's wife, Liz, died Tuesday night of pneumonia, after a heart attack a month ago and after living in a nursing home for the past eight months because of her Alzheimer's disease.

None of us wanted to prolong Liz's existence, which frankly was not all that great. While she was loved and cared for, the Liz I knew and loved was gone, replaced with a child-like clone that stared rather vacantly at me when I visited.

The Liz I remember was vibrant and jovial and she had a great laugh. She was warm and effusive. She couldn't tell a story or a joke without grabbing you on the arm to punctuate the best part of it.

I never saw the pre-Alzheimer's Liz without her talking about my mother and what wonderful memories Liz had of her. With Liz's death, that is one of the biggest losses for me.

People are gathering this morning, just about now, to view her body together, as a family. The public visitation begins in about an hour. The funeral will be tomorrow morning, at the church in Warda, and she will be buried tomorrow afternoon, next to her first husband (I presume) in Nassau Bay, outside of Houston.

I grieve for you, Uncle George, and celebrate the love that you and Liz shared for too short of a time. I commend you for loving her and caring for her right up until the end. I wish you some quietness of your heart and peacfulness in your soul. You certainly deserve that.

Not in church on a Sunday morning

Dragon Mood? -- dragons don't fit in churches

Rayne Today has an interesting post about the "religion thing." I had to comment, of course.

And then, I found this quote which is so much closer to where I am spiritually:

I once listened to an Indian on television say that God was in the wind and the water, and I wondered at how beautiful that was because it meant you could swim in [God] or have [God] brush your face in a breeze.

-- altered quote from Donald Miller, "Blue like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality"

Hildegarde of Bingen also speaks about God as "moisture." I shared that with my dentist after he took his hands out of my mouth. "Everytime I breathe and fog up your little mirror that you put inside my mouth, did you know that is God?" I'm pretty sure he made a note on my chart about being a religious nut-case.

Ethics in Blogging

Dragon Mood? -- nodding sagaciously

Here's an article about blogging and ethical standards from the Freep:

...The growing influence of blogs ... is raising questions about whether they are becoming a new form of journalism and in need of more formal ethical guidelines or codes of conduct.

...So far, many bloggers resist any notion of ethical standards, saying individuals ought to decide what's right for them. After all, they say, blog topics range from trying to sway your presidential vote to simply talking about the day's lunch.

...Many bloggers believe standards of practices are inevitable, even if they aren't something formalized in writing.

As a relative newcomer to the blogosphere, I agree with the last sentence of the quotation. While not formalized, I think a generally recognized standard of etiquette and conduct, as well, will eventually prevail among bloggers.

Loving the snow!

While I have lived virtually my entire life in the north, I don't believe I've ever loved the snow so much I wanted to roll in it!

The photo is from this website.

speaking of Chuck . . .

Dragon Mood? -- thinking daredragon-y thoughts

On doing daredevil-y things that one probably shouldn't try:

His ego writing checks his body can't cash

From the incomparable dooce.com

Google, the New Year and Photoshop

Dragon Mood? -- hey, it's still January -- better late than never!




I found reference to this image on Eszter's blog. I'm inspired and a bit envious. That's the kind of work I would like to do in Photoshop!

Kudos to the Google graphic designer who thunk it up!

Longing for the sun

Dragon Mood? -- pale




Is it enough to say that I live in Michigan?

[Thanks to this site for the image.]

Dr. Ernest Drake's Dragonology

I received this dragon-lovely book from my dragon-child, Carolina.

You are seeing the cover, the image hardly doing justice to the richness and sheer lusciousness of it. It is deeply embossed, heavy book stock with three green orbs imbedded around the center circle. The interior, cover to cover, is full of the eminent Dr. Ernest Drake's knowledge and advice to would-be dragonologists regarding the study and pursuit of dragons. Here's an example:

Spell to Catch a Dragon
Take a mirror and sprinkle it with dragon dust. Then place a sapphire or other treasure outside the dragon's lair. When the dragon emerges to investigate the gemstone, quickly bring out the mirror so that the dragon see its own reflection. Cry, "Ecce Narcisso Dragonus Attractivae!" This spell will tame the dragon -- but watch out when it wears off! (For a small sample of dragon dust, see Appendix II.)

As a full-fledged metal dragon myself (metal, I believe in the Chinese astrological system?), I am thoroughly enjoying reading Dr. Drake's well-informed publication.

All dragons would do well to read this timely treatise.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dragon Mood? -- remembering

Today is the national holiday where we, as a people, remember the contributions of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King advocated and agitated for civil rights for African-Americans. Most African-Americans' ancestors were brought to this country in bondage, existing and struggling their entire lives as slaves. While African-Americans were granted their freedom under Abraham's Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, they continued to be enslaved and oppressed by white Americans through segregation and racial discrimination for the next 100 years.

Dr. King came to the forefront nationally in the early 1960's, advocating civil rights through non-violent means. He was an eloquent speaker, who challenged peoples' acceptance of de facto segregation and encouraged all people to work for change through non-violent civil disobedience.

He was assassinated in the spring of 1968 by a white man from Tennessee, James Earl Jones.

What would Dr. King say if he were alive today? Have we, as a people, made any progress? What more can be done?

And, what would Dr. King say about the comedian/speaker Bill Cosby's recent comments in Detroit regarding parenting in the black community?

A shout out to . . .

Dragon Mood? -- dragon-mama snorts a little love-fire on her dragon-child!

A shout out to Wild Wend, who posted a week ago, after a long, long blog-coma. She not only posted once, but thrice! Wow!

I have tried very hard as her maternal parental unit NOT to bug her, but she is the person I credit with introducing ME to blogs. And that blogging world is huge! And so very cool!

Anyway, Wild Wend, I don't know when you will see this or if you will see this, but I sure enjoyed reading your posts (as I always do/did/have done) and hope that you continue to post. Run and hide from the blog-coma, run, run!!!

Looking westward

Dragon Mood? -- why am I not surprised?

Here's an article popping up on Google News from the CIA’s National Intelligence Council (NIC), called “Mapping the Global Future.” It says, in a nutshell, that Asia will dominate the 21st century, in much the same way that the United States dominated the 20th century.

"A combination of sustained high economic growth, expanding military capabilities, and large populations will be at the root of the expected rapid rise in economic and military power for both countries."

The report stated that "although the US will still remain the world’s dominant economy and military power, ... its authority may be reduced because of the growing clout of India and China, and possibly some other nations like Brazil and Indonesia." (In other words, to all Americans, "We'll still be powerful, even if we're less powerful!")

To that same end, I saw a brief clip on ABC News last night about North Korea. Evidently, the North Koreans have extended an olive branch to the U.S., as long as the U.S. does not disparage Kim Jong Il. The videotape showed massive military parades in Hanoi, with thousands and thousands of North Korean soldiers goose-stepping double-time through a plaza. It honestly gave me chills. There were so many of the soldiers, so identical in their dark uniforms, so reminiscent of old-time footage of Nazis in the 1940s. I hope Bush and company can except this olive branch and keep any undiplomatic comments to themselves.

Killer Fog

Dragon Mood? -- astounded



This photo was taken on I-96 between the Okemos and Webberville exits. A stretch just down the road from the stretch I used to drive every day!

I left work last night at 5:45 and the first thing I noticed was how warm the air was. My car thermometer registered an outside temperature of 49 degrees! There is a wooded field next to the parking area and there was the most ethereal, mystical-looking fog floating out of that wooded, snow-covered field towards my car. It was beautiful.

From the photo above, obviously, also pretty deadly.

[As a footnote: this morning, driving to work, the outside temperature was 57 degrees. Fifty-seven degrees, in Michigan, on January 13th! Wow!]

Healthy Son

Over the holidays, we talked quite a bit about all the health issues that I have been dealing with the past several months. Josh told me that he had a physical recently.

I called him this morning on a separate matter and he said that he had gotten the results of his lab work back. Here are his numbers:

• cholesterol: 158

• HDL: 77

• LDL: 67

• triglycerides: 68

Wow! I didn't know someone could have such good numbers! I have a disgustingly healthy son. His good health is a blessing in my life . . . and I am a happy Mamacita.

C Reactive Protein

From the New York Times Editorial page:

"The evidence has gotten much stronger that a substance known as C-reactive protein may be every bit as important as cholesterol in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. Back in 2002, a thought-provoking study found that a blood test for C-reactive protein, called CRP, was actually better than the standard cholesterol test at predicting the risk of a heart attack or a stroke. Now two studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine have shown that drugs that reduce the levels of that protein in patients with severe heart disease can slow the progression of atherosclerosis and prevent heart attacks and cardiac-related deaths."


"...After years of focusing on the role of cholesterol in clogging arteries, researchers now recognize C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation in artery walls and elsewhere, as a prime risk factor in its own right."

"The key study published last week found that heart disease patients who were given high doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug also experienced a drop in CRP levels and in heart attacks. Thus the high-dose statin packed a double wallop..."

Kudos to my primary physician who has been checking my CRP for some time now. Last October, it was 3-1/2 to 4 times the level it should be. Something, somewhere, inside my body is INFLAMED!!

Uphill or Downhill?

My wild Wend daughter, Carolina, just sent me a link for this article.

In a nutshell, this Austrian researcher found that walking downhill may lower sugar levels and walking uphill may reduce triglyceride levels in a person's bloodstream.

While I don't have any Alps to hike up, I guess I could certainly benefit by walking up stairs on a more regular basis.

My new H-P toy

And while I don't have a new puppy, I do have a new toy -- thanks to my honey, S.

She gave this Hewlett-Packard rz1715 iPAQ, more commonly known as a PDA, to me for Christmas -- a total surprise, I might add! It does the usual stuff like calendars and contacts and to-do lists, but it also does photos and music and games! Very cool! I'm excited about having instant access to images that I really like!

After a rather rough start with it (why do new electronic toys always involve some sort of software or hardware hiccup? why?), I think I'm going to enjoy my new iPAQ immensely!

Coveting the First Lady's puppy

S and my kids and my friends and most of the world know that I would LOVE to have a Scottie. Because of numerous extenuating circumstances, including our aging and highly jealous pooch, Cisco, S and I have decided to put off pursuing a puppy, at least for now. Very logical, very commonsensical.

But when I saw the pictures above, part of me wailed, "I WAAAAA-nt one!"

By the way, her name is Miss Beazley.

Tsunami aftermath -- Two week update

Dragon Mood? -- still can't get these dragon arms around it

Salon reports that two weeks after the devastating tsunami that struck many countries around the Indian Ocean, there are over 150,000 dead and thousands still missing.

"In a rare positive note, the World Health Organization said no major disease outbreaks have been reported in the crowded camps where millions have sought refuge after losing everything."

When I try to hold these poor people in my heart and mind, I feel completely overwhelmed. God ... help them.

Cisco / Bed . . . Cisco / Bed ???

Dragon Mood? -- a dangerous combination: fatigue and fire-breathing

I am going to bed!

I am GOING to bed!

I am GOING to bed!

[This is a record of my conversation with the dog, as she shoves my mouse-manipulating right arm with her singularly powerful nose, trying to induce me to take her for a pre-midnight walk around the neighborhood.]

I guess I told her!

Easy Rider -- 35 years later

Dragon Mood? -- "uh . . . like groovy, mannnnnn!"

S and I just watched "Easy Rider" on the AMC channel. You know that was made in 1969? (I looked it up on the imdb website.)

What a trippy film! I honestly don't remember going to see it, but what do I know? I was seventeen at the time, dating my ex-husband and at that time, movies usually were for making out, not watching!

First of all, Peter Fonda has got to be the cleanest, most nicely-coiffed hippie guy I ever saw. Dennis Hopper is a little more authentic. Was this a satire on the hippie generation? Or was it a commentary on the rest of America, with their small-town parades, obnoxious rednecks and self-righteous law enforcement? I'm really not sure.

My favorite part, hands down, was the campfire conversation between the young and handsome George Hansen (Jack Nicholson, in all his youthful swagger) and Dennis Hopper. They talked about satellites, Venutians marrying into the earthly population, freedom, challenging the status quo and the dangers inherent in doing so. I could listen to it again!

The whole first half, in contrast, felt like a paeon to the beauty and natural wonders of western America. I wonder if that helped contribute to the founding of the first Earth Day, on May 1st, 1970?

Wow, do I feel old or what? (laughing)

Insulin resistance and --of all things-- vinegar!

It's Friday morning and I'm happy that the first week back "in the saddle" is almost over. Returning to the daily and weekly routine is always hard after the holidays and after time off from work. But with the erratic hours, hit-or-miss exercising and, dare I say, undisciplined eating, my body is relieved to be back in some routine.

I finally had a chance yesterday to do some investigation of "insulinemia," which appears to also be referenced as "insulin resistance," "insulin sensitivity," or most ominously, "Syndrome X." I was stunned at how many web-like connections there are between insulin resistance and --ready?-- diabetes, coronary artery disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), high blood pressure, high cholesterol, abdominal fat, and . . . well, the list seems to go on and on.

From there, I also "googled" my way to a reference about drinking a small amount of vinegar (mixed with water and optionally, some saccharine) before meals to help the body recognize the insulin that it's producing, and thus, ward off the blood-sugar spikes that occur for diabetics after eating a high carbohydrate meal.

I went home last night, cracked open a wonderful bottle of muscatel wine vinegar from the ever-delighting Zingerman's and had my vinegar "cocktail." It made me grimace, it made me shiver, but it was also surprisingly invigorating. And the wine in the vinegar definitely helped the flavor!

I am going to a luncheon today for a departing colleague, and safely tucked away in my pouch purse is a small leakproof container of wine vinegar and water! Cheers!!

quinoa

Dragon Mood? -- happy dragon tummy

While this may sound strange, I've been wanting to blog about quinoa.

What the heck is that? Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a rather plain-looking grain that I capriciously picked up that turns out to be a superhero in disguise. Like most middle-aged, slightly overweight people with high cholesterol, high triglycerides AND insulinemia, I'm trying to eat more whole grains. (And like many middle-aged folks, I have a slight and foggy memory that someone mentioned it to me first. Is that true?)

[I do have to laugh, because I have truly come full circle. When I was young, married and idealistic, my husband and I were vegetarians. I worked at the local food co-op twice a week, for both philosophical and economic reasons. Then we started eating meat, he voted Republican, I got divorced . . . and now look: I'm back to eating whole grains. Isn't life funny?]

Since I'm no nutritional expert, here's what Whole Health MD has to say:

Nutritionally, quinoa might be considered a supergrain--although it is not really a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant that's distantly related to spinach. Quinoa has excellent reserves of protein, and unlike other grains, is not missing the amino aicd lysine, so the protein is more complete (a trait it shares with other "non-true" grains such as buckwheat and amaranth). The World Health Organization has rated the quality of protein in quinoa at least equivalent to that in milk. Quinoa offers more iron than other grains and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid).

An ancient grainlike product that has recently been "rediscovered" in this country, quinoa has a light, delicate taste, and can be substituted for almost any other grain.

There's more good stuff about quinoa, but suffice to say it's on my eating list now, along with golden flaxseed and good ol' oatmeal.

I want to compliment Carolina, who fixed quinoa for all of us over the New Year's weekend. She said she cooked it like oatmeal, adding a touch of brown sugar and a pinch of black pepper, along with a handful of craisins (dried, raisin-like cranberries?) It was positively yummy! Thanks, Lina!

Our thieving dog and the sausage caper

We woke up Monday morning to find the dog scratching to be let into the house from the porch. There, lying on the floor of the porch was a big ol' sausage, at least a pound-and-a-half, if not two pounds. It looked like Cisco had begun nibbling on one end of it.

S just called me, alerting me to an article in the Free Press today entitled, "Alleged sausage theft could be a call for help."

Now, along with everything else, we have to worry about our kleptomaniac dog???

People of the Year: Bloggers

According to ABC News and PC World, 2004 was a big year for blogs!

Here's what PC World has to say:

Last year proved big for blogs and bloggers, according to data released from The Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Blog readership jumped 58 percent between February and November, and comprised 32 million U.S. citizens in 2004. More than 8 million U.S. citizens have created a Web-based diary, and one in 10, or around 14 million U.S. Internet users, has contributed thoughts or comments to a blog.

The figures released by the Pew Research Center are just the latest in a series of studies on the growth of blogs on the Internet, and show that the online diaries are becoming important sources of information for Internet users."

Interestingly, I started this blog in February of 2004 (thanks to my wildwend daughter!) and have been happily blogging ever since. In fact, I have started four blogs (one of which expired in its infancy).

All of this tells me, if I'm feeling the need to be a part of something larger than myself, well . . . the blogosphere is definitely that!

New Year, new additions

Dragon Mood? -- expansive??

In the spirit of a new year, amidst all the new technology which I am surrounded (and trying to embrace), I added a site meter to Calypso Dragon 13, which at this moment, I am unable to see!

Stay tuned, folks!

("Pay no attention to that man behind the screen," booms the Great and Powerful Oz.)