So my search for supporting evidence for my research topic on organic food is getting very tiresome. Not a single viable fact or support is available. This is getting more difficult than trying to find Osama Bin Laden or finding the mystical city of El Dorado. I am pretty much ditching that topic and finding a new topic. Call it the “jilted lover” syndrome. “I have put in my time and effort into you organic food topic and you don’t return any love back to me?! Well then I will find someone new!”
Some of the topics are as followed. Call it my “Research Topic Blind Dates”. I don’t know too much about them but I know just enough and want to choose the one that best suits me. So the nominees are….
1) The benefits of using astragalas. This is an herb that has been used in Chinese medicine for many years and now it is being used in tea mixtures in the US. The effects are that it helps fight of colds, helps the lung’s function with respiration and is used as an overall tonic. Why did I pick this? Well I will tell you why. In our last seminar, our instructor was sick with a cold and she had mentioned that she was drinking a tea with zinc and astragalus. I remember hearing that name but only knew it in the Chinese name of Huang Qi. I had used this herb not only on myself but to other patients as well and it does a pretty good job, I must say….
2) How Tai Chi helps alleviate pain in the elderly. For those who don’t know, Tai Chi is a form of exercise when the emphasis of the movements are done very, very slowly and is mostly done by older people. The philosophy is based on Chinese medicine and focuses not only on the movements but also breathing as well. The types of movement are similar to the ones you see in Kung Fu or Karate but you’re not breaking anything with your hands or head. I have read before that Tai Chi is now being offered in nursing homes and at out-patient physical therapy facilities because, studies showed, that it helped alleviate a lot of arthritic conditions. I have tried it before a numerous times and it’s a great form of exercise. At first, it is awkward but the movements do help you with concentrate mentally and strengthens your joints as well.
3) How hand-eye coordination activities can delay the effects of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disease of the brain associated with age or head traumas. I am a boxing fan and, right now, the best trainer/ coach is Freddie Roach. This guy just produces champions in the ring. He was a professional fighter when he was younger and had taken way too many head shots. He has Parkinson’s disease. While he does show some symptoms like head ticks and severe pains in the necks, his doctor’s are saying that his disease is progressing a lot slower than the average patient. While I do not know the exact extent and for how long Mr. Roach has had this condition, his doctor’s attribute that because he is in the boxing ring daily training his fighters using punching pads, his hand-eye coordination is off the charts. He is in the ring training guys 8 hours or more a day. His doctor’s think that since he is constantly using his hands and eyes in punching combination drills, this helps his brain get more exercise and this helps delay the degeneration of the disease.
So those are my choices right now. Please let me know on which one you think would be suitable or the most interesting one. Remember, I have to devote my time and effort into this relationship for the next 8 weeks now and I want it to end in a happy union rather than a frustrating one.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Research Topic Quandary....
For our writing class, we had to find a research topic to write for our final paper. One of the topics I would really like to do it on is the whole “Is organic foods better for you?” debate. I was interested in this because my wife is an avid shopper of organic foods. Me, I don’t understand why you pay so much for food that pretty much tastes the same as a non-organic food. But she insists that it actually taste better, is healthier for us to eat and better for our child as well. Mind you, I am the one who actually went to school to study the human body and she went to school for business management in the fashion industry yet she’s the one who insists that organic foods are so much better for the human body.
I also remember that not too long ago, there was report that said that there was no real difference in eating organic and non organic foods. So this is where my curiosity piqued. Well on Friday night while doing the discussion post assignment, I actually did look up the whole organic topic. Using our Kaplan/ University of Alabama-Huntsville online library, my searches were futile. Not one came up on the differences between the two? Instead I got a plenty of recipes on how to cook with organic foods and how eating organic food was to be so much better. Oh and I forgot, I also got some search results for DDT and how pesticide is bad the body (Get out of here! DDT is actually bad?!)
Now I wonder if I should stick with this topic or just switch to something else. If any of my fellow classmates are having the same problem, please I would like to hear stories as well.
I also remember that not too long ago, there was report that said that there was no real difference in eating organic and non organic foods. So this is where my curiosity piqued. Well on Friday night while doing the discussion post assignment, I actually did look up the whole organic topic. Using our Kaplan/ University of Alabama-Huntsville online library, my searches were futile. Not one came up on the differences between the two? Instead I got a plenty of recipes on how to cook with organic foods and how eating organic food was to be so much better. Oh and I forgot, I also got some search results for DDT and how pesticide is bad the body (Get out of here! DDT is actually bad?!)
Now I wonder if I should stick with this topic or just switch to something else. If any of my fellow classmates are having the same problem, please I would like to hear stories as well.
When my puberty ends...
This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of being left alone at my house. My lovely wife and my son had gone to my in-laws for the weekend (and no, our relationship is still good and there was no plate throwing and cursing at all…Thank you very much!) She had to attend a family wedding near her parent’s house and I was unable to attend because I work on Saturdays. So from Friday to Sunday afternoon, I have the house all to myself. A man, with no wife and kid. Just a man on his own, who can walk around the house in his boxers without a care in the world. I am my own island. I have become a single man again!
First, let me explain something to all of you out there. We all go through two sets of puberty in our lives. One is the physical manifestation of puberty where your voice changes, hairs begin to develop everywhere and you get acne on your face and back (back-ne). That usually happens in your “teen” years. The other type of puberty is the emotional one. Just like when you felt awkward with the physical changes, in your 20’s, you go through an emotional change. This is a feeling of insecurity, random anger followed by depression, confusion and just not really sure about what you want in life. Why am I telling you this? This pretty much sums up how my single life was.
So as single man, you can pretty much assume I was immature as heck. Don’t get me wrong, I was still a law-abiding, responsible, and determined young man but I still did a lot of dumb things. I’d go out and drink with my friends ‘til the break of dawn pretty much 4 days out of the week, smoke 1 ½ pack of cigarettes a day, attended various night club establishments, hit on way too many girls (both pretty and ugly) and pretty much acted out of control. Still, the only criminal offense I have is parking tickets. Yeah , ok I wasn’t out of control like some of those kids on the Maury Povich show but you get the idea.
My wife had told me of this news two weeks ago. My reaction, oddly, was “huh?” rather than a “Yippee Kay Yay!!!” The single John would have pretty much said “Goodbye, so long, don’t forget to write…” and would have helped her pack as soon as she made the announcement. But when she had told me that her and my boy were going to be away for the weekend, I felt…. abandoned. I began to ask “what for?!” and when she’ll be back. It sounds weird but that’s how I felt. I still agreed to it and then started to plan what I was going to do on that weekend. My first reaction was to call some of my old buddies and go out and drink. The old John would call up his buddies and his fellow gang of merry men would go out on a drop of a hat. The festivities would begin at 8pm and wouldn’t end until 4am. So I called up my friends and most of them can’t make it out. Why? Because they have kids like me. Our social gathering has been so limited due to our lives that most of the time we do our communicating via Facebook or playing online games on our Playstation3. Still I was able to get a hold of one of my buddies. We planned on meeting for some beers and dinner by ourselves. That soon changed. My friend calls me up the next day and tells me that he can’t go out to a bar and watch a game. Instead, he invites me over to his house to watch the game with his wife and kids on a Saturday evening (this where you can picture me slapping my forehead hard and hand the hand slide down my face very rigidly).
On Friday, my wife and my son leave. This is what I ended up doing on the first day of singlehood: After work, went to the post office to deliver a package, went to the bank to make deposits, bought a six pack of Miller light, went home, had a very sensible and nutritious dinner, checked my mail box and found out that the new FIFA soccer came in, played the said soccer game for 1 hour, drank only 2 beers while playing game, did school work for 1 ½ hour and went to sleep by 12 am. Oh and I forgot to mention that I had to confirm a dentist appointment for next week... Pretty mundane, huh? Single John would have not done this at all. Single John’s dinner would have not been that sensible. He would ate a block of cheese and a foot long stick of Hickory Farm Summer beef sausage. He wouldn’t buy a six pack , that would be for wimps. He would’ve bought a 30 pack and finished a third of that within 4 hours. He would have gone out with his friends and try and get many phone numbers of the opposite sex. Single John would have come home around 4am and would stay up another 3 hours watching stupid stuff like “Jackass” (By the way, I recently watched the latest “Jackass” DVD…I thought what they did was funny as heck but after watching it now, they just seemed stupid. Really stupid like starving for attention stupid.) In my honest opinion, if Single John found out what Married John did on his free time, Single John would have grabbed him and pile- drived him to the floor, pick him up by the shirt collar and do a paint brush slap across his face and ask “What the hell happened to you man?!” The sad thing is I think both Single and Married John would enjoy watching this actually happen. I have a feeling that my Saturday night would end up being pretty much the same as my Friday.
Maybe I’ve gotten older and more responsibilities in life now. I guess rather than going out and doing God-knows-what in the wee hours of the night, I want to spend that time with my wife and kid. I still stay up late at night but mostly because I am feeding my son and trying to put him to sleep. Rather than getting random phone numbers of girls at clubs who I know will pretty much end up breaking my heart, I want to spend that time with my wife and just being comfortable to our familiarities. Rather than stuffing my face with a block of dairy and beef by products, I want to eat healthier and live longer. I guess my emotional puberty has ended.
First, let me explain something to all of you out there. We all go through two sets of puberty in our lives. One is the physical manifestation of puberty where your voice changes, hairs begin to develop everywhere and you get acne on your face and back (back-ne). That usually happens in your “teen” years. The other type of puberty is the emotional one. Just like when you felt awkward with the physical changes, in your 20’s, you go through an emotional change. This is a feeling of insecurity, random anger followed by depression, confusion and just not really sure about what you want in life. Why am I telling you this? This pretty much sums up how my single life was.
So as single man, you can pretty much assume I was immature as heck. Don’t get me wrong, I was still a law-abiding, responsible, and determined young man but I still did a lot of dumb things. I’d go out and drink with my friends ‘til the break of dawn pretty much 4 days out of the week, smoke 1 ½ pack of cigarettes a day, attended various night club establishments, hit on way too many girls (both pretty and ugly) and pretty much acted out of control. Still, the only criminal offense I have is parking tickets. Yeah , ok I wasn’t out of control like some of those kids on the Maury Povich show but you get the idea.
My wife had told me of this news two weeks ago. My reaction, oddly, was “huh?” rather than a “Yippee Kay Yay!!!” The single John would have pretty much said “Goodbye, so long, don’t forget to write…” and would have helped her pack as soon as she made the announcement. But when she had told me that her and my boy were going to be away for the weekend, I felt…. abandoned. I began to ask “what for?!” and when she’ll be back. It sounds weird but that’s how I felt. I still agreed to it and then started to plan what I was going to do on that weekend. My first reaction was to call some of my old buddies and go out and drink. The old John would call up his buddies and his fellow gang of merry men would go out on a drop of a hat. The festivities would begin at 8pm and wouldn’t end until 4am. So I called up my friends and most of them can’t make it out. Why? Because they have kids like me. Our social gathering has been so limited due to our lives that most of the time we do our communicating via Facebook or playing online games on our Playstation3. Still I was able to get a hold of one of my buddies. We planned on meeting for some beers and dinner by ourselves. That soon changed. My friend calls me up the next day and tells me that he can’t go out to a bar and watch a game. Instead, he invites me over to his house to watch the game with his wife and kids on a Saturday evening (this where you can picture me slapping my forehead hard and hand the hand slide down my face very rigidly).
On Friday, my wife and my son leave. This is what I ended up doing on the first day of singlehood: After work, went to the post office to deliver a package, went to the bank to make deposits, bought a six pack of Miller light, went home, had a very sensible and nutritious dinner, checked my mail box and found out that the new FIFA soccer came in, played the said soccer game for 1 hour, drank only 2 beers while playing game, did school work for 1 ½ hour and went to sleep by 12 am. Oh and I forgot to mention that I had to confirm a dentist appointment for next week... Pretty mundane, huh? Single John would have not done this at all. Single John’s dinner would have not been that sensible. He would ate a block of cheese and a foot long stick of Hickory Farm Summer beef sausage. He wouldn’t buy a six pack , that would be for wimps. He would’ve bought a 30 pack and finished a third of that within 4 hours. He would have gone out with his friends and try and get many phone numbers of the opposite sex. Single John would have come home around 4am and would stay up another 3 hours watching stupid stuff like “Jackass” (By the way, I recently watched the latest “Jackass” DVD…I thought what they did was funny as heck but after watching it now, they just seemed stupid. Really stupid like starving for attention stupid.) In my honest opinion, if Single John found out what Married John did on his free time, Single John would have grabbed him and pile- drived him to the floor, pick him up by the shirt collar and do a paint brush slap across his face and ask “What the hell happened to you man?!” The sad thing is I think both Single and Married John would enjoy watching this actually happen. I have a feeling that my Saturday night would end up being pretty much the same as my Friday.
Maybe I’ve gotten older and more responsibilities in life now. I guess rather than going out and doing God-knows-what in the wee hours of the night, I want to spend that time with my wife and kid. I still stay up late at night but mostly because I am feeding my son and trying to put him to sleep. Rather than getting random phone numbers of girls at clubs who I know will pretty much end up breaking my heart, I want to spend that time with my wife and just being comfortable to our familiarities. Rather than stuffing my face with a block of dairy and beef by products, I want to eat healthier and live longer. I guess my emotional puberty has ended.
Friday, October 16, 2009
U2 feeling disappointed???
Since this is my first blog, let me introduce myself. My name is John and I am a 35 year married male living in the idyllic surroundings of northern NJ. I have a beautiful, almost 7 month old son and a great and loving wife. My current occupation is that of a licensed acupuncturist. Why did I choose this profession? That will be answered in later postings. I have been sticking people with needles for the past 9 years and still enjoy what I do for a living.
One of my hobbies is listening to music. I enjoy all types of music pretty much but I do have to admit that I listen to more of the alternative/rock more. Like many of you out there, I usually listen to my favorite artists via the radio or on my personal media player but I also like to see them live. I have been to numerous concerts of the bands I enjoy listening to. Majority of the shows I have been to were great and, some of them, were either mediocore or just plain atrocious. One of these bands that I felt disappointed with was the recent U2 show.
I have been a fan of U2 since I was in middle school. I remember listening to the "Joshua Tree" cassette tape so much on my yellow Sony Sport walkman that "With or Without You" began to sing warbled ("Seeeee the stones seeetttet innnn yooouuurrr eyyyyes...") Whether you are a fan or not, there is no denying that U2 is a legendary band. They are pretty much up there with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Who and Led Zepplin in terms of their career longevity and the amount of albums they have put out. Ask anyone if they have heard of U2 regardless of their age and I bet you that they will say yes and name a couple of songs. Lately, I know Bono, their lead singer, has become preachy and self righteous with world affairs (this is one of my biggest pet peeves...celebrities telling what I should to do change the world....) but I still enjoy their music. When I heard that U2 was going on tour earlier this year, I was salivating with much anticpation that they would come around where I live. Lo and behold, they announced that they would come to the great Garden state. I have never seen U2 in a live setting and would literally have cut off my own left arm (ok maybe not that extreme....I would have cut my pinky instead...)
To give you an idea of how much I wanted to see this band, I had a whole elaborate plan of how to obtain the tickets online. I even told my patients and my co-workers that I will be coming in late because I needed to get these tickets. I even had my wife check for the tickets at her work place and even got a friend of mine and his wife involved in a coordinated effort to get these tickets. The tickets go on sale and none of us were able to obtain one. After all this planning, not a single one of us able to scrounge up one ticket. It turns out the show sold out in 20 minutes. To give you an idea how this amazed me is this" They were playing at Giants Stadium, an NFL stadium with a capacity of 80,000 plus. Add to the fact they since football was not being played, the field would be used as a stand only audience area which fills another 20,000 plus. U2 pretty much sold out a place where over 100,000 fans could easily fit in 20 minutes.
Luckily, we were able to get 4 tickets in a good viewing area for a marked up price. I still didn't care that I paid twice as much for the listed price. This was U2 after all. U2 who sang the song where I had my first slow dance with a girl in 7th grade. U2 where they sang "Beautiful Day" at my graduation and U2 who sang "City of Blinding Lights" to remind me of home when I lived far away. I forgave them for that one screwed up album "POP" because they had put out so much great albums previously and even if Bono has become too preachy for my taste, he still cans ing with the best of them. With the anticipation of the concert date looming, I even got a hold of their latest album and was listening to it one night. Their latest album was a let down. The whole album had maybe one or two songs that I would listen to on a regular basis. This was like "POP" without the disco influences. Still it was U2!!! They couldn't play every song on their new album...
The date arrives. 9/24/09. After months of scouring the internet of the set lists from previous tour dates and finding out that another one of my favorite bands would be opening up for them, Muse, I felt that this was going to be the mother of all concerts. I felt that if the great savior above us took my life right after the concert ended, I would die a happy man.
The opening band Muse was a top notch opener. I had seen them before up in Boston with my wife about 2 years ago and they were fantastic then and they were equally, if not better, when I saw them. U2 comes on stage and sings their songs. While they did put on a great stage act and their song choices were good, here are some of the things that I was disappointed with:
1) One of their songs "If I go crazy, I'll crazy tonight" is one of the better songs off of their new album. It could have been one of those classic anthems where the whole stadium would sing along and it would have sounded great in its original format. What did these guys do? They remixed into a disco/techno song. It sounded terrible!!!! Yeech!!! Awful!!! Why they did this, I have no idea...
2) I also noticed that Bono's lyrics have gone bad...really bad. The old Bono wrote some classic songs with lyrics that made sense. Think of the words to "Pride" or even "One". Well written. There was a song and I can't remember the name of it where the lyrics went along the lines of "Debit card, Credit card, punch your pin..." and so on. Basically he was pretty much giving an instruction on how to use an ATM and a computer. What in the world?! He preaches about saving the world and asking his fans to take a stand against injustice in the world and he comes up with words on how to use an ATM???
3) As a finale, they sang "With or Without You". Classic and one of the songs I was looking forward to hearing live. Really a big let down. First, Bono sings it out of key. Second, he seemed to lack the proper amount of energy when he sings it. Considering this is one of their defining songs for a generation, why not put a little extra "oomph!" into it?
4) Bono does it again with his preaching. This time it was about a Burmese woman who won the Nobel Peace prize but is kept under house arrest. While I do commend him for trying to bring attention to the injustices of the world, why at a concert? I could tell you many people I spoke to who attended the concert were just as confused as myself as to why he brought this to our attention. We just want to hear U2 sing with passion. I wish he would have put that much energy and passion singing instead of being preachy...
Overall, the show was ok. I thought it could have been better. Maybe I had such high expectations for the show. Instead, I felt the whole concert was just "ok". What can I say, maybe I am getting too old....
One of my hobbies is listening to music. I enjoy all types of music pretty much but I do have to admit that I listen to more of the alternative/rock more. Like many of you out there, I usually listen to my favorite artists via the radio or on my personal media player but I also like to see them live. I have been to numerous concerts of the bands I enjoy listening to. Majority of the shows I have been to were great and, some of them, were either mediocore or just plain atrocious. One of these bands that I felt disappointed with was the recent U2 show.
I have been a fan of U2 since I was in middle school. I remember listening to the "Joshua Tree" cassette tape so much on my yellow Sony Sport walkman that "With or Without You" began to sing warbled ("Seeeee the stones seeetttet innnn yooouuurrr eyyyyes...") Whether you are a fan or not, there is no denying that U2 is a legendary band. They are pretty much up there with the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, The Who and Led Zepplin in terms of their career longevity and the amount of albums they have put out. Ask anyone if they have heard of U2 regardless of their age and I bet you that they will say yes and name a couple of songs. Lately, I know Bono, their lead singer, has become preachy and self righteous with world affairs (this is one of my biggest pet peeves...celebrities telling what I should to do change the world....) but I still enjoy their music. When I heard that U2 was going on tour earlier this year, I was salivating with much anticpation that they would come around where I live. Lo and behold, they announced that they would come to the great Garden state. I have never seen U2 in a live setting and would literally have cut off my own left arm (ok maybe not that extreme....I would have cut my pinky instead...)
To give you an idea of how much I wanted to see this band, I had a whole elaborate plan of how to obtain the tickets online. I even told my patients and my co-workers that I will be coming in late because I needed to get these tickets. I even had my wife check for the tickets at her work place and even got a friend of mine and his wife involved in a coordinated effort to get these tickets. The tickets go on sale and none of us were able to obtain one. After all this planning, not a single one of us able to scrounge up one ticket. It turns out the show sold out in 20 minutes. To give you an idea how this amazed me is this" They were playing at Giants Stadium, an NFL stadium with a capacity of 80,000 plus. Add to the fact they since football was not being played, the field would be used as a stand only audience area which fills another 20,000 plus. U2 pretty much sold out a place where over 100,000 fans could easily fit in 20 minutes.
Luckily, we were able to get 4 tickets in a good viewing area for a marked up price. I still didn't care that I paid twice as much for the listed price. This was U2 after all. U2 who sang the song where I had my first slow dance with a girl in 7th grade. U2 where they sang "Beautiful Day" at my graduation and U2 who sang "City of Blinding Lights" to remind me of home when I lived far away. I forgave them for that one screwed up album "POP" because they had put out so much great albums previously and even if Bono has become too preachy for my taste, he still cans ing with the best of them. With the anticipation of the concert date looming, I even got a hold of their latest album and was listening to it one night. Their latest album was a let down. The whole album had maybe one or two songs that I would listen to on a regular basis. This was like "POP" without the disco influences. Still it was U2!!! They couldn't play every song on their new album...
The date arrives. 9/24/09. After months of scouring the internet of the set lists from previous tour dates and finding out that another one of my favorite bands would be opening up for them, Muse, I felt that this was going to be the mother of all concerts. I felt that if the great savior above us took my life right after the concert ended, I would die a happy man.
The opening band Muse was a top notch opener. I had seen them before up in Boston with my wife about 2 years ago and they were fantastic then and they were equally, if not better, when I saw them. U2 comes on stage and sings their songs. While they did put on a great stage act and their song choices were good, here are some of the things that I was disappointed with:
1) One of their songs "If I go crazy, I'll crazy tonight" is one of the better songs off of their new album. It could have been one of those classic anthems where the whole stadium would sing along and it would have sounded great in its original format. What did these guys do? They remixed into a disco/techno song. It sounded terrible!!!! Yeech!!! Awful!!! Why they did this, I have no idea...
2) I also noticed that Bono's lyrics have gone bad...really bad. The old Bono wrote some classic songs with lyrics that made sense. Think of the words to "Pride" or even "One". Well written. There was a song and I can't remember the name of it where the lyrics went along the lines of "Debit card, Credit card, punch your pin..." and so on. Basically he was pretty much giving an instruction on how to use an ATM and a computer. What in the world?! He preaches about saving the world and asking his fans to take a stand against injustice in the world and he comes up with words on how to use an ATM???
3) As a finale, they sang "With or Without You". Classic and one of the songs I was looking forward to hearing live. Really a big let down. First, Bono sings it out of key. Second, he seemed to lack the proper amount of energy when he sings it. Considering this is one of their defining songs for a generation, why not put a little extra "oomph!" into it?
4) Bono does it again with his preaching. This time it was about a Burmese woman who won the Nobel Peace prize but is kept under house arrest. While I do commend him for trying to bring attention to the injustices of the world, why at a concert? I could tell you many people I spoke to who attended the concert were just as confused as myself as to why he brought this to our attention. We just want to hear U2 sing with passion. I wish he would have put that much energy and passion singing instead of being preachy...
Overall, the show was ok. I thought it could have been better. Maybe I had such high expectations for the show. Instead, I felt the whole concert was just "ok". What can I say, maybe I am getting too old....
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