Waterbirth

Our 2nd child (a boy!) is on the way; he is due in a few weeks. We will be having another homebirth and a waterbirth this time as well, should all go as planned. We used water last time around (September of 2006) and unfortunately the birth was a “dry” one (my wife labored well in the water, but when the pushing began, we needed her out of the tub).

In case anyone reads this and is interested in home or hospital waterbirth (or water birth), please see this website: www.waterbirthsolutions.com. There is also an eStore here for those of you who might be looking for birth pools, supplies, or other waterbirth-related items. We run this business as a means to both educate and serve the home/waterbirth/gentle birth community…. Follow us on twitter (@waterbirthsol); see the Facebook Fan page here!

We carry a full line of waterbirth pools, media, and supplies, including the ::: Aquaborn ::: eco birth pool, the Birth Pool in a Box, and the La Bassine birthing pool.  We also carry supplies for older birth pools like the Gentle Birth Pool and the Aqua Doula Birth Pool. See the website for more info!

You can email us through the website or via this address: info@waterbirthsolutions.com

Cheers!

Great article on Coenzyme Q10 and statin use

It is very important to take CoQ10 supplements if you are on statins.

I have been on statins for about 6 months now to treat high cholesterol (also throw in a CRP of 7.5 and my doc said “let’s get it in check now”). I started out at 20 mg of lovastatin (Mevacor) and had good results with no real side effects. This took my chol. from ~280 to ~206 with strong increase/decrease in HDL/LDL, and my CRP went down to 3.8. Yay!

Then after about 3 months, my chol. went up again to almost 300 and my CRP went from 3.8 to 9.0. HDL remained around 50 but LDL went back up to like 160 if I remember my numbers right. Either way, it doesn’t matter because with an extremely high CRP and chol. back up he upped me to 40 mg a day and switched me to simvastatin (Zocor).

Flag protocol for Memorial Day

In case you are interested:

Memorial Day in the United States is the last Monday of May, and the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon and then raised to full-staff. Full staff shows that the nation lives, for the flag is the symbol of the living nation.

The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. On Memorial Day the flag should be displayed at half-staff until noon only, then raised to the top of the staff.

See more here and here.

A pathetic edit job on “Zach” Johnson (pga.com fail)

I don’t see how this stuff gets by supposed professionals. This is from the pga.com website:

Evidently nobody reads this stuff before posting it. I can see how “Zack” can happen; it’s a real name. But htf does “Aach” make it in? Even a pedestrian spell checker like Word 2007 tried to change it to – you guessed it, “Zach.”

I guess the German translation from Google  says it all (the extra “a” is for emphasis one supposes).

interjection

ah! oh! alas!

<sigh>

WHO – Phase 5 alert: Pandemic is imminent

Influenza A(H1N1) update from the WHO website as of 2009-04-30.:

In nature, influenza viruses circulate continuously among animals, especially birds. Even though such viruses might theoretically develop into pandemic viruses, in Phase 1 no viruses circulating among animals have been reported to cause infections in humans.

Hungarian Mushroom Soup – Yum!

This one is pretty darn good. I recommend to use more mushrooms, and to slice ‘em thin. Also, mix up the varieties a bit: oyster mushrooms, shiitake, crimini etc. Enjoy!

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups onions, chopped
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup milk or half-n-half
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper, ground to taste
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice, fresh
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• ½ cup sour cream

Directions

• Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 more minutes. Stir in the dill, paprika, soy sauce, and broth. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
• In a separate small bowl, whisk the milk and flour together. Pour this into the soup and stir well to blend. Cover and simmer for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Finally, stir in the salt, ground black pepper, lemon juice, parsley, and sour cream. Mix together and allow heating through, over low heat, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not boil. Serve immediately.

Yes, you can move your taskbar icons around!

Ever have a bunch of Windows Taskbar icons (they represent your active windows in the order which they were opened)

and you want to order them in a specific pattern, and then you find that you cannot do this with the Windows XP or similar operating system? Well those days are over! Taskix is the latest improvement to personal productivity and OS satisfaction I have come across. [Aside: It never ceases to amaze me that Microsoft does not add in little enhancements like this to their products, or more appropriately, that they build them in the first place with so little regard as to how people like me actually use them. Sure they will say something like "it's wonderful that developers can write to the Microsoft API to deliver market-driven applications..." yadda, yadda, yadda.]

Nice features include a simple on/off toggle as well as a checkbox to launch it (or not) when Windows boots. 32-bit and 64-bit versions available. Simply download and unzip it; make sure the .exe is in the same path as the .dll. Enjoy and consider donating! 

Steel-cut oats

This is my own take on a classic. Its genesis is from Alton Brown’s show “Good Eats,” though I have made it my own. We love it!

Steel-cut Oats

Ingredients

• 1 cup steel-cut oats (not Scottish or Irish oats as these are a less coarse variation, though they can be used in a pinch)
• 2 to 2 ½ cups water
• 1 TBS unsalted butter (substitute: 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil)
• Salt and other spices, to taste

Preparation

Melt the butter (oil) in a sturdy saucepan over medium heat. Use enough butter to coat the pan, but not so much the oats will sauté. Place uncooked oats in the pan once the butter is melted. Toast for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Adjust heat as needed to attain desired toasting. Add a pinch of kosher or sea salt while the oats are toasting to make this a savory dish.

Once the oats are thoroughly toasted, add the water and bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to simmer. Note: Use 2 cups of water for chewier oats, and 2 ½ for a creamier dish. Stir once or twice and cook until oats have absorbed most of the water. Cooking time should be about 10-12 minutes for 2 C water, longer for more but you can vary based on personal tastes.

Serve as-is or add butter and cream to taste. Add fruit for a nice variation. Yields about 2 ½ cups cooked.

No mail delivery today due to a mere 6″ of snow

“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night …” has long been the U.S. Postal Service’s credo when it comes to delivering the mail. Today, the snow was too deep or something, because the lame ass-ed USPS did not come around. Must be nice.  *I* made it into the office; I don’t have a credo. I just have to bust ass to keep my job, not like the lazy USPS union hacks. And they wonder why they keep losing market share to the private sector, like DHL, FedEx, and UPS. F**king dinosaur agency that can’t even make its deliveries to a flat cul-de-sac in a flat valley like Beaverton, OR.

Sunriver, here we come!

Going to Sunriver, OR for a winter vacation today! The roads are all snowy, due to a large storm that came through western and central Oregon a few days ago. New snow is falling as I type! [I hope you like the effect, courtesy of WordPress.] We’ll be staying at The Pines, where we usually do, as one of our a timeshare rentals available to us through Vacation Internationale:

 The Pines townhomes have all been remodeled in the last 2-3 years, since a fire went through the area about 4 years ago….

Mount Bachelor is the recreation area nearest to Sunriver; see current info and conditions here. They only just opened for the season, so here’s hoping for some great snow and good times! Woot.