A Short Vacation... Part 2

To continue my narrative on my short vacation I pick back up after Part 1 with Flor and myself's decision to venture out to Big Bear a day early. We decided to leave Sunday afternoon and drive up to The Frontier Lodge right on the banks of Big Bear Lake. The weather report called for highs of 50 on Monday and 45 on Tuesday with a dusting snow coming in Tuesday morning. I was real excited as Flor hasn't seen much snow in her life and I wanted to be there with her when she saw real snow. Checking into our hotel Sunday night was welcomed after the long day and our long ride.

Monday morning came and we mightily fought the urge to sleep in and we got up around 9:30. We went out to a local board shop and I bought my annual addition to my snowboarding gear collection (this year it was boarding pants) and we rented the rest of our equipment. After a hearty breakfast at this awesome little, and I stress little breakfast joint we headed off to Snow Summit for an afternoon of quality mountain sporting. It took us both a little while to get the handle on the boards under our feet but we both got it pretty good.

Flor did fall quite a bit more than me at first as we frolicked on the bunny slopes but eventually we both were able to go up the lift and down the hill side without falling. I even got so bold as to bring the camera out onto the slopes and snap a few pictures without falling. Check them out below. Anyway I was so happy just spending the day outdoors with my girl.

2007 - Big Bear Trip

After trying my hand on the bunny slopes I decided to be brave and I went down the Intermediate slopes a few times while Flor tuckered out and game way to the picnic tables and camera to take some video of me sliding into the base of the mountain. I must say, looking at the footage I look like I'm going much slower than I thought I was going at the time. :)



Finally leaving the slopes we decided to finish the afternoon with a little Sushi. I tried my very first raw oyster. (Thanks mom for warming me up in my youth with cooked oysters) It was really good. And then Flor and I watched three chick flicks, ordered a pizza, and built a fire right in our hotel room. The fire was quite an ordeal in and of itself. We even managed to catch most of it on film. It is kind of sad that it was so hard to light a fire even with an easy light firewood block. Ohh well, as much as I'd like it to be so, I'm not a burly mountain man. Of course in the video Flor does mention how manly I am. Yeah! Score! Mountain Man Mounts! :)



Anyway, eventually the next day on Tuesday we woke up and began preparing ourselves for a long ride back to San Diego when to our surprise the "dusting of snow" that we were expecting ended up being a big time snow storm. Apparently Weather.com got it wrong and a storm from the the Northwest ended up diving quite a bit further south than was to be expected and the temperature fell into the mid 20's and our dusting turned into 6 inches or so of snow. Don't get me wrong I was thrilled to experience that with Flor as it was her first snow storm but man it made it tough coming down the mountain side.

The whole way down we watch car after car and truck after truck go sliding off roads and getting stuck in ice patches. We saw many accidents and a lot of close calls. I am happy to report however that yours truly made it down the 35 mile mountain road in a little over two hours and didn't once spin the wheels, fishtail, or slide of the side of the road. I was virtually flawless and though it was a tense ride we had a marvelous time and even caught a little video of a truck stuck in the snow during a heavy downfall. Good times and I can't wait to go again. Until next time.

A Short Vacation... Part 1

This past weekend was a Godsend. I've been horribly stressed at work as of late. Well, stressed isn't the best word for it but busy definitely is. I don't get too stressed by I get tired of being so darned busy. Anyway, despite my inclination to finish things up at work before quarter end I decided to capitalize on Flor's Spring Break and take a couple vacation days to be with her when she's got nothing on her plate.

Saturday we got up around noon and met AJ Buerer for lunch/breakfast at the Mission Cafe in North Park. It is always nice to see AJ and it's even better to see him doing so well now that he's back in San Diego. Anyway, during normal conversation we started talking about the Zoo and the animals and then because of my awesome purchase last month of annual zoo memberships for the two of us, Flor and I decided to make an impromptu trip to the zoo to see the big cats. Unfortunately AJ opted out of coming but next time he will have to join us. Had we remembered we could have gotten him in for free with our guest passes. Ohh well.

The Zoo was a nice afternoon spent although we never got over to the big cats we got caught up in the hype of the Giant Pandas and the Giant Hippo that was extremely active and playing with a big ball. It was pretty cool. I caught a few pictures of our trip on my camera phone, my favorite of which being a close up of the hippo's butt. :)

Anyway, Saturday was just the beginning. Sunday Flor and I headed down to Chula Vista for another attempt on the monthly PBA Tough Shot 5-Gamer Tournaments. This ended up being a bust as the approaches were sticky and I couldn't keep my footing. It was so bad that I just lightly threw the ball one-handed like everybody else with out sliding on the approach at all. This of course did not allow me a chance to score well but guaranteed me that I would not injure myself. Despite my "I-Give-Up Performance" I still managed to beat out a couple people sliding in at a cool -202 for 5 games. Blah! Complete results can be found here. All of my other bowling stats can be found here. I think that I'm going to stop bowling these events. I just don't like the approaches. I know I've bowled well there before but I've never liked the approaches and Sunday they were as bad as I've ever seen.

Anyway, that's just the beginning of the weekend. The second part I'll have to blog about a little later. Flor and I decided to take our vacation together up to Big Bear Lake and Snow Summit. I've got photo and video and a lot to say about our time there... but not until later.

The Economics of Medicine - What's Lacking

So Flor introduced me to a really interesting blog yesterday called Medicine and Economics. Being interested in Economics and the fiscal side of just about everything I began reading and decided to start at the beginning of the blogs archives, August 2006.

This post is very interesting as it is about the industries lack of the "Coke" or "Walmart" branded health care option. The author brings up the point that Walmart and Coke bring basic products that people want and sometimes need to the general public for a small price and extreme convenience whereas health care is not offered for low cost and high convenience anywhere.

I find this post even more interesting because I was just talking to Flor one day ago about the need for speedy high volume, low margin health care procedures.

Now I was at the time thinking about high cost specialized procedures such as CAT Scans, etc. but this same model works even better for small stuff such as "my kids ear hurts", or "what does this rash look like to you", or "does this finger look broken or jammed?"

Basic medical checkups should follow the Walmart approach, high volume traffic, in-and-out, at razor thin margins. After all, this is the basic premise of capitalism. With high volume you serve more people and you can then stand proud that not only are you making money but you are doing a service to the entire community.

There are two good quotes from Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company:

"The highest use of capital is not to make more money, but to make money do more for the betterment of life. "

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible."

Why can't we apply these principals to medicine? ...and lets pay our Walmart employees a pinch more too while we're at it.

Really, Really, Old

Ever since I was young I wanted to grow to be really old. I've always wanted to live well into my hundreds but kind of stopped thinking much about it until recently but I still can't help to be compelled to 'try' to live really long. I came across this article on BBC linked from the Healthbolt. The article tells the tale of a man turning 116 today and how he thinks he got to be that old.

"Hryhoriy, who still has a full head of hair, says that being single has kept him feeling young. He recommends a diet of milk, cheese and potatoes as well as the occasional shot of vodka."

How about that, huh? Who knew it was so easy? ...ohh yeah, he also worked on a farm until he turned 100. That hard labor probably kept him fit too. Maybe it isn't that easy after all.

Weekend Update and a Bad Bowling Excursion

This past weekend was a weekend that contained a few first for me along with some entertaining moments, tragedy, and peaceful relaxation. First of all Aaron and I went out Saturday afternoon to Balboa Park and spent the day with another Nice Guy, Daniel Harrison and his fiance. We took their engagement photos and generally had a great time. Aaron tells me the photos came out great but I haven't seen more than just a few. Attached to the right is one of the pictures from the day that I've seen. I just ripped it straight from Aaron's public gallery.

Later on we picked up Flor and we all headed out to Casa de Pico for an evening of drinks and dinning. I had my very first Bloody Mary and I liked it as I am a big fan of Tomato Juice. We had a great time and I am happy to finally say that I know Channin. Until this weekend I had never met Danny's finance and I was starting to wonder if she was a real person. :)

After the evening festivities Flor and I met up with the Tragers for a first for me. We all went out to the drive-in theatre and watch 300. It was an incredible movie; a delight even. Probably the most artistic war movie I've ever seen and beautiful. The drive-in experience was pretty amazing too. I really enjoyed it but the next time I take Flor out there I will insist on coming in our own car as we were very cramped in the back seat for a long time. It's tough on your back! Regardless we did have a good time as always with the Tragers.

Sunday morning I got up really early (on daylight savings morning too, ugh!) and drove up to Mira Mesa Bowl in North San Diego with Flor. I bowled in the annual San Diego USBC Masters Tournament. Flor manned the camcorder for the trip but luckily for me the camera battery was almost dead so she wasn't able to film more than 3 frames. Why is this lucky you may ask. It's because I bowled about as bad as I've ever bowled before. The three frames she captured can be found in the below video and as you'll notice I didn't get a strike in any of the frames and I left two splits. This pretty much summed up the entire day. I shot a -230 for 6 games or a 161 average. Yes the shot was tough but frankly I just stunk and have no excuse.



Anyway, after getting that awful bowling behind me I made the same conclusion I always come to after an outing like this. I decide to quit bowling for good. Of course a couple hours later I was already thinking about my next bowling event so at least I can say I get over my problems quickly. :)

The rest of the day Flor and I relaxed at home. She studied while I played CIV IV. Man, I love that game! All in all this was a nice relaxing conclusion to an exciting weekend filled with many events. And that was my weekend update, it was an enjoyable experience spent with an array of good fiends. I can even now say that Danny's fiance Channin actually exists. :0 Until next time...

Can Too Much Zinc Make You Tired?

It's been a very busy time at work for me as of late. Today is no exception. This is the first time all day I took to relax a bit. I feel tired and beat up, which leads me to my subject question.

As I've begun to think more about my own health I've decided to delve into the practice of taking multivitamins and I have found that I am still feeling tired.

To satisfy my curiosity as to why I'm tired for no good reason I began poking around online and compiled the following information.

Zinc helps adults to get over colds in about 50% of the time they normally would.

Over the last week or so Flor has had a cold so I have been taking a daily zinc lozenge and a vitamin c pill in hopes of not getting a strong cold.

According to the above link, Zinc blocks the body from using Copper which allows the body to absorb Iron and an Iron deficiency is what causes fatigue in many people because, and I quote the above linked site:

With insufficient iron, adenosine triphosphate (ATP; the fuel the body runs on) cannot be properly synthesized. As a result, some iron-deficient people can become fatigued even when they are not anemic.

ATP!

Interestingly enough Flor has been teaching me all about ATP and how the body needs it to run efficiently so this jumped out at me.

Anyway, continuing on I decided to read the labels of my goods I've been taking and what do I find?

I find that As I've been taking a zinc lozenge and getting zinc from my multivitamin I now have 38mg of Zinc coming in every day compared to my minimum requirement of 11mg. This amounts to an approximate 3.5:1 ratio. I would hope that my copper ratio is the same but it is not. I'm getting 2mg compared to my minimum requirement of .9mg, a ratio of 2:1. That means that all that zinc is canceling out more copper and I'm consequently not absorbing Iron properly... right?

I think so at least.

Digging deeper I find that the multivitamin has no Iron in it at all so I'm poorly absorbing what little Iron I get by eating my sub sandwiches at lunch and my body is responding by not synthesizing my ATP properly and in turn making me feel fatigued.

To top all that off I also find that my tube of Airbourne to also help fight a cold before it comes also has Zinc in it compounding the problem even further. Whew! That was tiring all by itself.

OK, so long story short I guess I need to take in less zinc or take in more copper and iron. Maybe then I will start feeling more refreshed.

8 Years - 6 Months - 12 Days

That is how long it took me to graduate. Whew! It's over. :) I finished my last class at PLNU on the 28th of February and I just got my grade back. It's a B+!!!!! Tied for my second highest grade in college, trailing right behind an A in Bowling a few years ago. I thought for sure I'd get an A- at least but I guess there's no changin' this "No-A-In-My-Book" guy. B+ is as good as I get.

I had a good time with this class as I found it somewhat interesting and slightly elementary for me. I could've done better with trivial information such as specific definitions but the general concepts I've got down pat. I can't believe how long it took me to finish but chalk that up to a lack of a sense of desire to finish what I thought I'd already finished in the Summer of 2003. Also, I'd like to thank my employer who offer excellent benefits part of which reimburses me for undergraduate level classes in my field of work. Because of them I finished 3 and a half years later.

How To Calculate Your Daily Nutritional Requirements

I recently have been thinking a bit about my body and it's composition as it relates to my health and though I think I'm a pretty healthy guy I can't help but wonder how I might be healthier.

I've been visiting a site recently called NutritionData.com. I've found it really interesting and informative. I'd recommend to anyone to check it out at least.

Anyway, they have a tool on their site called ND's Daily Needs Calculator. This calculator asks for your sex, age, height, weight, and activity status (sedentary, somewhat active, active and very active) and they calculate what your rough Body Mass Index is, your daily calories burned is, and your recommended minimum daily nutritional needs are.

According to them after plugging in: 26, Male, 73 Inches, 145lbs, and "somewhat active" they say my BMI is 19.1, I burn 2,702 calories in the average day, and I need the the contents of the table to the right every day.

So what does this mean to me... well not a huge amount. Mostly I just find it interesting. I'm thinking about trying a one-a-day multivitamin. They seem to cover all of these for the most part. Some nutrients are slightly lacking compared to this chart but some are more plentiful. Regardless, it's probably better than continuing to take nothing at all. :)

Joost - I can't wait.

OK, so I subscribe to a TIME Magazine RSS feed and today I read this article about the upcoming online site Joost. If you haven't heard about Joost it's because the site is still in beta mode and won't be open to the public until this summer but you might have heard of The Venice Project... maybe not though. Anyway, The Venice Project has been renamed Joost by the online web software guys that originally created Kazaa and then followed that up with Skype. These guys have proved that they can put together very popular and meaningful web content for the every day person. Joost will probably be just as awesome and I can't wait to try it out.

They will be bringing normal TV to your computer via the Internet in an old fashioned TV kind of way. There will be Chanel's that you can just mindlessly watch with programs that you'd normally watch only from your living room couch. There will be no purchasing of TV shows, there will be no sifting through random 2 minute use generated videos and there will be far less commercials than we would catch on the boob tube, about 3 minutes worth per hour according to the attached TIME article. And best of all the whole thing will be free. There will be no subscription fees, no hardware to buy or software to buy. Awesome! I can't wait. I just signed up for beta access so I'll check back when I get to try it out.