"This Time Where are You Houston, Will Somebody Listen, Is Somebody Out There?"

First of all, thank you to Tom Delonge and Mark Hopus for writing the song Asthenia for Blink 182. Great song which I totally plagerized for the title of this blog entry...but I'm not being paid for it so....don't sue me.

Okay so I've been a total lazy tool keeping up with my blog. I know this. I've been distracted and it's time to come correct. The whole center of my universe shifted from somewhere just north and west of the Gulf of Mexico to around 40.7500° N, 111.8833° W. If you have to ask, my friend the mostly all knowing (allegedly) Google can help you out with those co-ordinates. My most humble apologies to my avid reader. (since there is as far as I know, only one of you)

So, what have I been doing the last week or so since I've not written in my blog? Well, let's see. I managed to blow off 2 physical therapy appointments because the secretary scheduled me with a different therapist and failed to mention it to me. Nothing irritates me more than having to explain to 2 different people what hurts or is ailing me. Don't these people in the medical world put anything on a patient database and do their homework? Apparently its just easier to play the 20 questions game ever bleeping time I go into see the doctor, therapist, nurse pacticioner or whatever. Seriously, this is why I abhor/hate going to the doctor and taking a trip to one with my wife makes me want to punch a hole in a wall sometimes...its like every time we go in..."ma'am do you have any allergies to medication? Are you taking any medications at the moment?" Um no, she's playing the "$64,000.00 Question" with you! Just once I'd like to respond to the person filling out the dossier on my wife so the doctor can ask her the same flipping questions..."um, is she taking any medications? It would be quicker to list the ones she isn't taking...now run along and look on your computer and see what those are, I'm sure her internal medicine doctor had someone put them on a data base somewhere. If you get lost I'm sure Google can help you out." WHAT THE EFF?! I think I'd rather just get cancer and shoot myself in the face while simultaneously punching myself in the junk than go through that every time I went to the doctor. Which is why I have to practically have a bone sticking out somewhere important or something to get me to go. The only one I really trust is my orthopedic surgeon who rebuilt my right shoulder and that's about it.

I'm not a fan of doctors ordering tests for you when they're not needed or refusing one just because they tell me my insurance won't cover it until whenever. I think ordering a test or ordering therapy for a patient without first discovering a symptom that would lead a doctor to request a certain test or course of physical therapy is foolhardy, irresponsible and dangerous. Who are they all studying medicine under these days, Greg House? How about letting me pee in a cup first before determining if I might have an insulin problem before shoving glucose (read high fructose corn syrup) down my gob. Or thinking outside the box and ordering an MRI along with the x-ray before allowing a therapist to bend and contort my body and possibly causing further complication to whatever joint is injured. Oh and another thing...

Truth in advertising...sort of. I'm laughing my rather shrinking behind off at these stupid corn ads on TV. Recently the corn growers (probably failed football players from Nebraska or Iowa) have launched a campaign for high fructose corn syrup...some lady is walking through a totally airbrushed cornfield somewhere in Whogivesacrapfieldville, Iowa chatting up the camera saying, "experts have said that there is no difference in how your body reacts to high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar," ...blah, blah, frickety blaaaaaaaah! You know what, she's probably telling the truth. What she isn't saying is that though the body may treat HFCS and cane sugar and beet sugar the same since it's all processed, it's still most likely (and I haven't researched this other than just seeing the people where I live/lived) the largest cause of obesity, type 2 diabetes (and all the other types) and tooth decay in our country right next to the education department cutting out Phys-ed and the advent of PlayStation, X-Box and Wii. What she doesn't say is that if you quit eating processed sugar and so forth and get your sugar naturally from plants like coconut, the birch tree, and green leaf stevia etc, your body will thank you but the chemical companies and food additive companies etc will be pissed as Hell.

Another thing I've been meaning to bring up but haven't is the whole GMO issue. I read an article in of all places a leading women's magazine (normally I just look at them because of the hot movie star on the cover) but this one caught my eye because it talked about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and I thought, "I've become more diet conscious, let's give this a read." What I read was about 4 and a half pages of double speak and duplicity. In the article they talked about genetically modifying salmon and farm raising them so they would grow faster and be available to consumers at a higher rate along with modifying grain that was fed to cattle...I don't recall what the modification was but the charlatans, errrr scientists said is that they didn't find any genetic markers that would indicate that the modified grain in any way altered the cattle they fed. So we're really NOT what we eat? Really? So those cattle they fed genetically modified grain, not altered in any way? I mean they still look like cows but their freakishly huge sci-fi not normal size didn't give any of these PHD (Piled High and Deep) types a moment for pause? How long did they research those particular cattle? Did they monitor and test the offspring of those cattle? Nothing in the article to suggests they did which leads me to wondeder... either they did and found next-gen modification in the offspring and don't want people to know about it or they didn't do the tests all together.

It's hilarious in our society today how it's perfectly okay for the FDA to approve steroids for livestock, steroids and growth hormones that end up in the meat consumers buy in the butcher shops and grocery stores and then shove down their cake holes, but if an athlete slams a syringe of growth hormone or equine testosterone in his butt cheek, he can be banned for life from competing in the sport of his profession and then waste my tax dollars sitting on CSPAN in front of congress and lying about it to millions...yet it's perfectly fine for our government to slam genetically modified grains and steroids into our food source and poison them with pesticides and herbicides...does anyone remember DDT? How duplicitous.

Okay, rant over. I realize that in this day and age it's impossible for anyone to get purely non-contaminated food, with all the chemicals in our water supply and airborne pathogens and particulates floating around it's a wonder the planet doesn't more resemble something out of a Robert Rodriguez zombie film (Google it if you don't know - I love Google) But I guess the tactical strategy going forward is to eat organic as much as possible in order to not get a larger dose of crap that's floating around in our water supply and squirming about in our soil. I truly believe we are what we eat...then so are the cows, horses, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens. If I omitted any other farm animals, my apologies in advance to them if they read this. I did leave out the ass but I think there's a Book of Mormon prophet that references an ass somewhere. I read that once...

On a much cooler and more serene note, I made a totally kick-@$$ fruit salad this week and some killer banana/raw cashew/cranberry/orange muffins just for kicks. (it's my variation of the banana-chocolate chip muffin recipe from "the web site.")

Here's the recipe for the fruit salad:

1/2 lb raspberries

1/2 lb blackberries

1/2 lb sliced strawberries

1/2 lb diced fresh pineapple

1T     coconut palm sugar

2T     shredded raw coconut

1HF* sliced raw almonds

1HF* chopped pecans

Juice from 1 whole Lemon

*HF = Hand Full

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl, cover with a lid and shake gently (or violently if you're in a hurry) to mix all the ingredients like I did, or you can just get a large spatula or spoon and mix them if you're not into "caveman" style mixing...cuz let's face it, it's all gonna be mush pretty soon anyway...and it's all good!

Over all pretty tasty and the amino acids in the coconut sugar gives it a nice muscle cell rebuilding property which at my age I need...

Again, loyal reader, thank you for checking in. And thank you for coaching me!

Cheers!

With One Step With One Flow You Will Know Synchronicity...

Okay, so here's the deal...today same as any other day recently, I've been feeling much better about my back. The doctor has told me she believes I have sciatica...fun for me right...not so much. Her advice; "stop running." I heeded it pretty much til it was either do something or fall face first onto a really sharp ice pick. I went swimming, did the elliptical trainer and some mild jogging in a really short circle in the community fitness center upstairs rubberized track...and I was going nuts.

I went to physical therapy and was again told why I probably didn't need an MRI and the therapist was really cool and told me most times with what I had which could be a mild case of sciatica, could be fixed over time with a regimen of stretching and rest and again little to no running. I had prayed for and fasted for help from God to ease my sore back and keep me from having nerve damage in my lower back and I just thought, "you know, I've been doing what is required for the blessing of "health to my navel and marrow to my bones - run and not be weary, walk and not faint" so why not ask for the promise that went with the principle? Yah, why not?

So I did.

As of today, I have very little ache and stiffness in my back, I stretch and do what my therapist told me to do, have appointments with the PT clinic through July and probably scaring the crap out of my Personal Health Coach.  (hey, I promised you and me and my body I'd listen to it and I have...promise) I have run nearly every day this week except for yesterday and feel great. No residual discomfort whatsoever...so what does this tell me? God answers prayers, He delivers when called upon and always has the game plan firmly tucked into his waistband and always calls the right play when it's needed. All I have to do is execute it and all will be well.

Today I ran a different route. I got about 3 and a half miles into my run and shut it down. At 10:30am the temperature in Warrens-tucky was about 88 degrees with 20 degrees less humidity and I was feeling a bit like I just needed to take a walk for a while...so my game plan was to run in the shade walk in the sun. That plan gives me a great chance to get a tan on my scary mask tattoo and my arms as well not to mention take the time to look around for things that might be beautiful and otherwise missed, besides I was sweating like a Fin in a sauna.

As I was coming up the street and headed toward home I came up on the Warrensburg post office and saw as I approached a guy who looked like an extra from "Night of the Living Dead" minus a the cool leprosy special effects makeup. He was maybe between the age of 70 and half way to Methuselah and moved like he couldn't decide to take the next step or take a dirt nap...poor bugger. I could tell he was going into the post office because he had decided to head up the wheel chair ramp to the front doors and at the last minute decided maybe that was more cardio than he wanted to do in a hot humid morning so he went around it. I quickly ran around him, grabbed the front door to the post office and held it for him so he could shuffle inside.

He mumbled something unintelligible to me as he passed by and after that I took off and headed home. It got me to thinking...Nothing happens by accident. Everything is in perfect sync. Had I not stopped to walk/run the rest of the way home, I would have missed the chance to help this old gentleman out and even though it was no big deal to me, just one random act of kindness shown an old man might parlay into something really big for him later on...okay maybe not but who knows? Maybe its just that when I'm an old codger and can't get my feet moving quite as fluidly as I do now, I'm hoping that the karma I banked early in my life will pay dividends when I'm half way to pushing up daisies.

So I thanked God for the surreality check and finished my run. I don't know how long it took but I know I was still sweating like I'd just run through a car wash and grateful for the experience. So I have that going for me.

Thanks for looking in!

Cheers.

What's for Lunch? FϋD!

The other day the wife and I went out to look at some prospective houses in the city. Saw a couple duds and then saw a really cool bungalow that I was excited about. Okay excited is kind of an understatement. I was more like the kind of excited a 18yr old guy gets kissing the incomparable 17yr old girl he knows is the love of his life for the very first time kind of excited! It had a lot of nice features, not much in the way of upgrades for us to do if we purchased the property and the price was right. It looked small inside only because the guy who owns the property at the moment has more shoes than me and Emelda Marcos combined and enough button down shirts and suits to start his own satellite "Men's Warehouse" (you're going to like the way you look, I guarantee it) and enough cologne to open his own counter at Macy's. The neighborhood is where we finally settled upon living when we move and so I thought all was well. I later discovered that wasn't quite the case. I think my wife just has this anxiety about  moving since where we are now is the longest she's lived in any one stretch of time in her entire life. I, on the other hand have moved more times than a high school freshman playing dodge ball with the school's baseball team pitching staff. (that's a lot).

Heidi in front of FϋD 

After a few hours of house hunting and coming to a sort of consensus on which house we wanted to make an offer, we decided to head to the West Side of Kansas City for lunch. I read in an indie newspaper about a vegan restaurant called FϋD. After being seated on the street (our choice) we ordered our food; my wife ordered an Avocado sandwich made with one half an Avocado with seasonal sliced vegetables & Greens topped with Dillanayz & Thrillanayz (not sure what all is in them) on Cracked Wheat Bread and I ordered a "Jack Reuben" made from seasoned green jack fruit paired with sauerkraut and their own sauce and I'm not entirely sure what was in the sauce but the sandwich was delicious. To drink, I had what they call a Red Cooler made from fresh apple juice mixed with cranberry juice and brewed rooibos tea. My wife had a chocolate cacao chip shake made with raw cacao powder, raw cacao nibs, agave-cashew milk and crushed ice. All of their foods are whole and organic so I was curious as to how my sandwich would taste. Without question it was the best lunch I've had since I left my own kitchen. This place was totally legit as far as strictly vegan fare. I mean I've been vegan for just over 2 months and I have eaten at 2 different vegan restaurants. One was not really strictly vegan but made a good attempt (what my PHC calls "transitional vegan) and though there were no animal protein items on their menu, they missed on being a "whole food/organic" vegan restaurant, whereas FϋD hit right in the bulls-eye dead center!

We met the owner/proprietor, Heidi (pictured above in front of the restaurant). She's what I would describe as ecclectic and very, very cool and told us she'd been vegan for 20 years. We told her I'd been vegan for 2 months and a few days. She took the time to talk to us for about a half hour and was kind of surprised at what I had learned thus far about being vegan and what stuff to eat and where it came from and so forth. I explained I had a great personal health coach who was teaching me via Skype from Houston and she thought that was awesome. My wife told her it was weird, (not in a bad way) but that I'd taken a trip to Utah for a week alone and came home and declared that I was vegan and quit drinking alcohol and eating animal protein etc and told her how much weight I'd lost in such a short time. What was not lost on me was that as Heidi and my wife were talking I thought I detected that she was kind of proud of me for the first time in months. So all in all a great day and maybe we bought a house but that remains to be seen!

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!