'Tis the Season to be Sharing

And so I'll share words and links to more words, because they're easy to give, and that's what you're here for. ;-)

For some reason I fight myself when it comes to doing certain activities that I enjoy. The likelihood of a fight seems to increase if said activity is actually good for me. Unfortunately this is the case with Yoga. And unlike running (which is hard on your joints) it's difficult to find a real excuse not to go. This is what I spent all of yesterday reminding myself of. And, after much effort, I succeeded in forcing myself to go to Yoga. There were moments, distressingly near the beginning of the session, when I thought my limbs were going to give out and I was going to collapse into a limp pile of untrained and uncultured desk-job-appendages. But except for a few stumbles and cheats I made my way through; I even managed to impress myself a little. And I think that's one of the reasons I like yoga, as humbling as it is, it leaves room to discover something you never would have guessed you could do. I'm also a huge fan of stretching, and the sauna after doesn't hurt.

Speaking of which, I did some research on saunas. I've heard just as a general lore that saunas can have health benefits and so I thought I would look into some details. I didn't look too hard, but I found a couple of optimistic sites, with references even:

Sauna & Health: Sweat Bathing and the Body (Very Pro-Sauna)
Wikipedia - Sauna (Harder to follow the health benefits, but many references)

A couple of the more easily believable benefits are relaxation, which can ease joint and muscle pain, and toxin expulsion. The extent of toxin cleansing and its benefits seems to vary depending on the author, but there does seem to be supporting evidence for it.

Also did a little research on the vitamin D and cancer thing. There is at least one study among adult females showing that Vitamin D significantly reduces the incidence of cancer. Another team gathered papers and research on Vitamin D and cancer (done by many other teams over 30 - 40 years) and determined that a relationship exists. From these and other studies I gathered a recommendation of 1000 IU of Vitamin D3 daily. Best taken in the form of short solar exposure every couple of days, supplements when this is not an option. It's, as always, more complicated, but this will have to do until I find the links again later.

Until then, more sharing:

FreeRice (Test/Increase your vocab and fight Hunger)
Kiva - Loans that Change Lives (micro loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries)



Technorati Tags: sharing, yoga, sauna, vitamins, vitamin_d, kiva, hunger, vocab, microloans, links

Middle Earth Colors

I spent much more time at my computer on this trip than I might have hoped for, but I got a lot of work done. And in spite of all of the time spent working I've enjoyed my visit.

To start it off we stopped at Joe's Crab Shack on the way back from the airport again. My brother loves the whole idea of the place and it turns out my brother-in-law loves crab too. I think it's going to become a tradition to stop and get crabs when I come to town. And yes, Joe's has a store where you can buy paraphernalia extolling the joys of catching crabs (ex "Got Crabs?").

My first full day, and the only day that everybody was off work, we got together at my brother's to BBQ. They have a new puppy and sidewalk chalk, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Everybody from my immediate family, my nieces and nephew, and some old family friends were there. My brother is excellent at the grill by the way: The steak was perfect (red most of the way through for me), and I don't know how long he grilled the scalloped potatoes for, but I swear I've never had better.


Later in the week, while looking for Halloween costumes, I discovered that I can shop in the kids section. This was lucky considering I found what I needed there. It also amuses me a great deal. Still. I'm not sure why, I just think it's funny and something must be done to take advantage of this newly discovered fact.

Several of us went to a haunted house Tuesday night. The Necropolis in downtown Columbia, MO. I recommend it. So much fun to be scared, not sure why. Rollercoasters, haunted houses, ghost stories, etc. I like them all.


Wednesday we all went trick-or-treating, something I haven't done for too long. Tomorrow we plan to spend some time at the park, and then I leave and return to CA. I'm looking forward to going back to my friends and my life, but it's hard to leave my family and the great weather.


Technorati Tags: crabs, family, BBQ, Halloween, costume