On Colonix

In the 1990s I subscribed to an alternative health newsletter that had an interview with a guy who advocated people go on 7 day fasts while also taking coffee enemas to cleanse their colon. Of course, this is quite an effort, so some companies such as Colonix have come up with products for people to take that will also cleanse the colon and not have to make such a huge effort, especially cooking up heavy coffee and squirting into your colon. Not many people want to give themselves enemas.

On diet pills

Can exercise take the place of diet pills? Reading John Peterson's books can be a little confusing because he describes a number of exercises and how great they are, but in another place will tell the story of a guy in the Army who let himself get pretty fat, then decided to lose weight before being discharged and returning to his fiance, so he began doing as many pushups as he could, all during the day, and lost lots of weight just from doing pushups. No change in diet, according to the story.

On weight loss pills

I've been reading some books on body-weight exercise recently, by such guys as Matt Furey and John Peterson. Those guys don't believe in just popping some weight loss pills. They want you to sweat. However, they don't want you to run or swim long distances, or to lift weights, so their styles and advice are out of the ordinary. You don't need to pay for or go to a gym. Just have enough space to spread your feet and place your hands out and start doing Hindu pushups. You don't need any special equipment although a solid horizontal bar could allow you to do pullups and chinups.

On the top 10 diet pills

I'm still reading a novel about China. It led up to the Boxer Rebellion, and the first hero was killed by boxers in defeat as they were pulling back from Peking, threatened by the foreign troops they'd provoked into invading China by their attacks on the foreign legations. It's part of that character that he was spurred to fight the boxers in his house by the sound of one of his maids being raped, and his immediate thought that could be his wife or daughter (except that they were safe in Paris). He was portrayed as very modern in his consideration for women. And since he once visited America, and went to school in Boston, it's not surprising that he was killed by Boxers. The story is concerned with food, but not the top 10 diet pills.

On a baby jogger stroller

I have to admit that a baby jogger stroller is a smart idea for people who want to multi-task. They can take their babies out for the air, and put in their exercise at the same time. I'm not sure how much the babies like being shaken up, but I guess good ones have good shock absorbers. Plus, I think sometimes it's better to let the babies out and let them play or crawl outside without being confined to anything. Plus, as a runner, I'm in favor of sprinting, especially uphill, for short periods of time, so taking a baby out for that wouldn't work. I could take them around as I walk for a warm up, then let them watch me as I run up the hill, but then I wouldn't be close to them.

On the Outer Banks

People seem to be traveling again. I wanted to go to a popular destination in August (NOT the Outer Banks), but a budget travel agent told me that it was unlikely I could get a flight until September, and it wouldn't be cheap. He's advertising very cheap fares right now, but they won't remain in effect for the busy summer season. I have to call back late in May to find out what kind of sale prices he can give me for September. I don't like having to wait, especially since Labor Day is not until September 7, which means the holiday seasons extends to almost the middle of September. I'd like that if I didn't have to go back to school until after Labor Day, but now it's making me wait too long.

On self-defense products

I have a friend, who I met through my ex-wife, who, the last I heard, ran a shop in south St Louis selling Asian knick knacks and self defense products. A lot of people went to her to buy kis, padded masks and gloves and such stuff when taking judo, karate, gung fu and muy thai classes. She also sold some books and videos. I used to enjoy looking through her stock though I was not involved personally, though I wish now that I'd taken some karate or gung fu classes. And there are others -- The Philippines, Indonesia and other Asian countries have their own fighting methods, sometimes with their own weapons --- styles of knives and swords.

on AED

Years ago my job sent me to a Red Cross to learn CPR. Fortunately, I've never had to use it, and my certification has run out. I think my job decided that they could get sued if they paid for my CPR classes, there was an emergency, I worked on someone and they died anyway -- so now we're told to just get the security guards and let them do the first aid. I remember most of the basics, but not the details. And I had just the beginning of training in how to use an AED, if that's the machine with the pads you put on people's chest to get their heart working again. One of my co-workers was once playing the slots on a gambling boat next to her father, when he had a heart attack, but the gambling boat and just gotten their equipment and was able to save his life.

On Orlando vacations

I'm sure a lot of people in Southern Florida right now are worrying about how many people plan to take Orlando vacations this summer after school lets the kids out. One issue could be the swine flu. I myself am not too worried about this, but a pandemic is still possible, and then it wouldn't be wise to fly. Also, many people might avoid Florida because of Mexico. I don't think many Mexicans wind up there - I thought most of Florida's hispanics were from Cuba or Puerto Rico but I could be wrong. The recession is probably going to cut into their traditional business more. Many families can't afford to spend all the money it takes to enjoy Disney World, which is quite expensive from what I understand.

On a TV stand

Sometimes when I'm seeing into people's houses, I'm now surprised when I see that the have an old-fashioned TV with a cathode ray tube projecting far to the back of the screen. It's so much easier to have just a light weight flat screen that is attached to a tv stand, rather than the huge and heavy 25 inch screen TVs that had to sit on the floor and take up half of your living room. Now people often have their computer monitors in their living rooms as well, though this isn't as common for suburban families as for students in apartments and condos. Now living rooms don't have to be laid out around the TV set because it can be changed and maneuvered.

On Blackberry plants

One of the first fruits that cave people ate must have been berries, because they are relatively visible and even in the wild state are sweet and colorful, and so must have been tempting. It took some determined effort to find the benefits of consuming coconuts for example. Even corn in the wild looks sort of unappetizing -- remember seeing examples of "Indian" corn? And there're other examples of fruits that are sweet and good-tasting inside rough looking surfaces. And who kept trying to eat lemons, limes and calamansi after the first sour taste? And we didn't find root veggies until we happened to pull the plants up. That said you can still get great fruit from Blackberry plants.

On hotel reservation promo

If you have the cash and the desire to travel, this is a good time, because the industry is suffering due to the recession (or it is really a depression?). So you can find good bargains if you look around. I'm hoping to get a really good deal on airline tickets I'm going to be buying to fly overseas, in a week or two. (buying the tickets in a week or two, not flying for a while). If you look around you can probably find a hotel reservation promo
that will save you money on your hotel rooms. Same goes for renting cars and taking other transportation or tourist services. You ought to get deals on special tours and on souvenirs too. Though there may be a problem if you are going to places with lots European tourists, especially in the US, because the euro is strong compared to the dollar.

On bathroom safety products

It sounds kind of funny, but your bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in the house, and so there's a great need for bathroom safety products. After all, that's the only room where we are naked and exposed to many hard surfaces. Of course we can be naked in our bedrooms but usually not for long, and if so, we're in bed or close to bed, and there are not a lot of hard surfaces, but ones covered with blankets and rugs and such, so a fall in your bedroom is likely to be a lot less dangerous. And that's not to mention that it's dangerous for many people simply to sit down to the toilet because they strain so much.

On Mesothelioma cancer

I remember seeing one video years ago of a woman claiming to be blind, being led to our office by her mother while she wore sunglasses. But before they got the car to this area and parked it, while at home, the woman didn't need the sunglasses and had no problem walking around on her own. When leaving our office, she was led to her car by her mother, and once away from office, again showed no visual problems. It's too bad, because people like this make it harder for people who are truly disabled, for example because of Mesothelioma cancer, to get the checks they really need.

On Fedphedra

It's a busy day here at my job. It's take your kids to work day, so there're a few young children wondering around seeing what we do. They got an eyeful at the presentation this morning of how our fraud squad video records people without their knowledge, to document they're faking their disability allegations. So they've seen people who can walk when not going to do the doctor hobble in a walker when going to the doctor. Or being led by friends when going to doctor but can walk around by themselves when they think nobody is watching. One of the people was a fairly heavy set woman, but she wasn't claiming disability due to weight so Fenphedra was not her problem. Taking 3 twelve-packs of Dr. Pepper from a QT -- probably without paying for them -- was, when she supposedly has severe back problems.

on jobs in healthcare

I've noticed because I have Yahoo as my homepage on my computer at work, that they run a constant stream of stories about jobs. Obviously that's a reflection of the current climate. Part jobs that pay you full time incomes. The most stable jobs. The most flexible jobs. The highest paying jobs. Jobs that pay you, etc. And of course in there are jobs in health care, because everybody can see that soon providing health care to baby boomers is going to mean a huge expansion in the health care field and lots of jobs will be available, more than we'll be able to fill with qualified Americans. One reason why political elites don't want to close of immigration - they know that before too long we're going to need those immigrants or their US-educated children.

On hair loss treatment

It's certainly an unnerving experience even when you're still a very young man, or even because you're still an otherwise very young man, to find that you are losing hair at your temples or some other part of the top of your head. I had a friend who started losing hair at a very young age, but I wasn't too far behind him, unfortunately. And finding gray hairs is also a bad experience. And plucking them out only helps temporarily. I wish I had lots of money to invest on becoming healthy and young again, and then I'd be sure to get hair loss treatment, though I'd want it to be something healthy not merely cosmetic that might look ridiculous or even worse would make thing worse in the future.

On office furniture

You have to wonder how our parents, grandparents and great-grandfathers ever got anything done, considering the office furniture they used to use. Pete Egoscue points out that the character in Dickens sat all day on a stool -- didn't even have a back where he sat, let alone an ergonomic chair he could twist around all day. You'd think Dickens would have had him complaining about carpal tunnel syndrome all day, instead of just trying to get a free goose for Christmas from Ebeneezer Scrooge. Later on, employers got better, because we can see from old movies that people had swivel chairs to at their desks to work at. And big desks with roll top lids, and so drawers with lots of nooks and crannies to hold their supplies and their work.

On drug rehab

It was rumored in the news that one of President Obama's first acts was going to be to stop the prosecution of marijuana crimes. Too bad. That'd be one thing he might do that I'd actually approve of. I do believe that it's ridiculous to throw people in jail for smoking, growing and selling that drug. However, I can't look on it as many other drug proponents do. It can suck people in so they don't accomplish things in their lives. I know that many people can and do keep their dope smoking to a reasonable minimum, to the entertainment time of their lives and are still productive when necessary. Still others, however, do allow it to obsess them, and go on to other drugs that are intrinsically damaging such as cocaine. And drug rehab seems helpless to stop this on a wide social scale.

It's a widespread problem. Just last night a Bulgarian student I know was talking about how when he was in high school he and friends used to go out and buy some strong alcohol and marijuana and get messed up, though he used another term. drug use is a strong drive that takes many forms. Many young people simply experiment and have fun for a while but eventually move on the productive lives, but others get caught up in the dangers and can't escape the consequences.