in the beginning

My friend, Kathy had this on her blog today, and i had to pass it on...
I know this is a bit long but read through it because it is hysterical!


In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

Then using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?" And Man said, "Yes!" and Woman said, "and as long as you're at it, add some sprinkles." And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled.

And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane and combined them. And Woman went from size 6 to size 14.

So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons and garlic toast on the side. And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.

God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them." And Satan brought forth deep fried fish and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained more weight and his cholesterol went through the roof.

God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's Food."

God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering blue light and gained pounds.

Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them. And Man gained pounds.

God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double cheeseburger. Then said, "You want fries with that?" And Man replied, "Yes! And super size them!" And Satan said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest.

God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery. Then Satan created HMOs. Thought for the day..

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

Today is my day!!!

I don't usually blog twice, in fact, i'm lucky if i blog once, but I realized something tonight that hadn't occurred to me before:

Today my oldest turned 30. I was thinking about how he must feel, and it was such a special day for him. Then I realized that today was really my day to celebrate. Thirty years ago my life changed forever. I went from being a wife and a daughter to taking on the best role of my life: a mother. No one can take that away from you, no one can understand what that title means, until you have become a mother too. I have the best job in the world. So today is my day to celebrate too.

Happy Birthday Eric!!!!

Today is my oldest son's birthday. What a way to celebrate a 30th bday! In honor of Eric, have a good laugh at this you tube video. It's our favorite of all times. You'll have to watch it a couple of times b/c you will laugh so much that you won't be able to hear it all.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vxTW4qK8-M&feature=related

JUST IN FROM INDIA:

hi everyone! we only have a few minutes to write because we have to catch a train soon. today was such an incredible day. aside from being my bday, it was the day of the Holi festival for Hindus. you will see from the attached photos how crazy it gets. we had a great birthday lunch/holi celebration with some friends and were COVERED in brightly colored pigment powders. it will definitely be a day that we will never forget.

we are off to a 12 day meditation retreat, so you wont hear from us until after April 3. hope all is well and we will write (and update the blog) very soon.

love,
eric and heather

My new Motto

So my kids have heard me say over and over again my favorite motto:

DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WANT OTHERS TO DO UNTO YOU. Great statement, and i totally believe in it. Then this morning, on my way to work, i heard the DJ say this:

IF YOU DO THE THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO DO, BUT HAVE TO DO IT BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO, THEN YOU WILL BE BLESSED.

My whole life I have based my actions on this statement. This statement is so powerful...i hope each of you DO THE RIGHT THING, especially when it comes to other people's feelings. Always remember the long term effects of your actions. A perfect example of this is when my grandmother was in a nursing home. I hated to go to that place, i hated it with a passion. But to not go was the wrong thing to do, so i went, often. It was the right thing to do. Now when i look back, i am so glad that i had that time with my grandmother. But more importantly, it was my grandmother who benefited the most. It was the right thing to do, and i knew that.

medical ethics

My brother, Alan, who passed away last year was a patient of this doctor. Due to a major misdiagnosis and unneccessary surgery, Alan had a law suit against this doctor Depak Desai. The lawsuit was dropped by the attorney for no apparent reason and no lawyer wanted the case. Ha, now we know why...he was a political contributor and a member of the governor's commission for health care.

I hope Alan is looking down on this with a big smile on his face. Dipak was the main target in his litigation. Now I can understand why no lawyer in Vegas would take his case and why his 1st lawyer wanted out. considering Dipak's political connections.

What comes around, goes around. Dipak will get his payback now. Here's the dirty story:

LAS VEGAS — Nearly 40,000 people learned this week that a trip to the doctor may have made them sick. In a type of scandal more often associated with Third World countries, a Las Vegas clinic was found to be reusing syringes and vials of medication for nearly four years. The shoddy practices may have led to an outbreak of the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus and exposed patients to HIV, too. The discovery led to the biggest public health notification operation in U.S. history, brought demands for investigations and caused scores of lawyers to seek out patients at risk for infections. Thousands of patients are being urged to be tested for the viruses. Six acute cases of hepatitis C have been confirmed. The surgical center and five affiliated clinics have been closed. "I find it baffling, frankly, that in this day and age anyone would think it was safe to reuse a syringe," said Michael Bell, associate director for infection control at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of the infected patients is retired airplane mechanic Michael Washington, 67, who was the first to report his infection. On the advice of his doctor, he received a routine colon exam in July at the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada. In September, he started to get sick. He was losing weight fast. His urine turned dark. His stomach hurt. By January, it was clear what had happened. Washington describes his virus as a "creeping death sentence" and worries that others will hear his story and think twice before getting preventive care they need. In letters that began arriving this week, patients who received injected anesthesia at the endoscopy center from March 2004 to mid-January were urged to get tested for hepatitis B and C, and HIV. Because all three viruses are transmitted by blood, they could have been passed from one patient to the next by the unsafe practices at the clinic. The mass notification is the result of a health district investigation that began in January when officials linked an uptick of unusual hepatitis C cases to the clinic. Health officials say they are most worried about the spread of hepatitis C, which targets the liver but shows no symptoms in as many as 80 percent of infections. Hepatitis C results in the swelling of the liver and can cause stomach pain, fatigue and jaundice. It may eventually result in liver failure. Even when no symptoms occur, the virus can slowly cause damage to the liver. Officials estimate that 4 percent of the patients already had the virus when they entered the clinic, compared with 0.5 percent for hepatitis B and less than 0.5 percent for HIV. Hepatitis C also is easier to transmit than HIV, they said."You put the two together and hepatitis C is really our big concern," said Brian Labus, senior epidemiologist at the Southern Nevada Health District.Health inspectors say they observed clinic staff using the same syringe twice to extract anesthesia from a single vial, which was then inappropriately used to treat more than one patient. The practice allows contaminated blood in a used syringe to taint the vial and infect the next patient. Of the six patients so far diagnosed with acute hepatitis C, five received treatment at the clinic on the same day in late September. Since 1999, the CDC counts 14 hepatitis outbreaks in the U.S. linked to bad injection practices.The largest outbreak occurred in Fremont, Neb., where 99 cancer patients were infected at an oncology center from 2001 to 2002. At least one died. The doctor involved in the case acknowledged reusing syringes and settled scores of lawsuit. But he never explained why the syringes were reused. Bell said such improper procedures appear to be more common in outpatient surgical centers like the endoscopy center. Unlike hospitals, such centers often do not have employees whose sole responsibility is to monitor and educate staff on best practices. In Las Vegas, clinic staff told inspectors they had been ordered by management to reuse the vials and syringes. Labus described the practice as an unwritten, but long-practiced policy.Investigators were told the practice was an attempt to cut costs, according to a letter of complaint from the city, which revoked the facility's business license Friday. Five other facilities affiliated with the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada also had their licenses revoked. The clinic's majority owner, Dipak Desai, a political contributor and member of the governor's commission on health care, has refused to comment on the allegations. He released a statement expressing concern for the patients and assuring the public the problems had been corrected. He later took out a full-page ad in Sunday's edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal insisting that needles had not been reused and that the chances of contracting an infection at the center in most of the last four years were "extremely low." Of the thousands of people who have rushed to be tested, many will get positive results, Labus said. More than 15,000 people already have called the health district for information. But it takes a more sophisticated test, a complete evaluation of risk factors and a clear pattern of infection to determine whether the virus was caught at the facility. Plenty of lawyers are wading into the mess. Television ads called "health alerts" are soliciting clients. At least a handful of class-action lawsuits have been filed. On Tuesday, the office of Las Vegas attorney Ed Bernstein was buzzing with phone calls — nearly 1,000 a day, he said. Bernstein said he represents about 1,200 patients at the facility, eight who have tested positive for hepatitis C. Washington, the infected airplane mechanic, is one of Bernstein's clients.His wife, Josephine, a registered nurse, wonders how any health care professional could be so reckless: "To maximize profit? For what? What are you going to save?"

Water comes to Houston

WOULD YOU WANT YOUR BABY TO DRINK THIS WATER?

For those living in Houston, check this out. If you are not fortunate enough to be a TEXAN, go t the website and tak a look. http://www.charitywater.org/. Watch the beautiful video of what this single man has done for so many people. An please, buy a bottle of water! Only $20 can give a person clean water for 20 years.

Please join Scott Harrison for the first charity: water photo and multimedia exhibition in Houston, Texas, next Thursday, March 13th. Help him build wells in Africa and become par of the solution.

The Houston exhibit will feature photos, soundscapes and video installations from charity: water projects in Africa, India, and Bangladesh. They hope to educate viewers about the global water crisis and show how simple actions can transform lives and communities in the developing world.

WHO: Charity: water

WHAT: FOTOFEST water exhibition for charity:water

WHEN: March 13th, 6-9 PM. Special musical performance by "THE KIN". Admission is free. Exhibitions runs March 13-28th.

WHERE: Gremillion & Co. Fine Art. 2501 Sunset Blvd (off Kirby) Houston, Texas 713-522-2701 www.gremillion.com

WHY: To raise awareness of the global water crisis, and fundraise for clean water solutions in developing nations. 100% of donations received will directly fund freshwater well projects in Africa. Only $20 can give a person clean water for 20 years.

I'LL BE THERE, WILL YOU?

The Braidel

This week, my Kindergarten class has been studying the five senses. They have learned all about the different handicaps people have to endure when they have lost one or more of the senses. The students have been especially interested in blindness. Since I teach in a Jewish school and have the good fortune to have a fab. dreydel collection, I brought in one of my prized dreydels: the braidel. This is an actual dreydel with the braille letters on it. I also brought in books written in braille and we have been studying Helen Keller and Louis Braille. As kindergarten students are, they loved the obstacle course the best. I rearranged the room and blindfolded them, giving them only a yard stick to use as a walking stick. They absolutely loved doing this, and as you can imagine, they loved walking into the walls and chairs and making a big commotion. It was pretty funny, but they definitely learned a new appreciation for having sight.

Another fun activity was using ear plugs. The students stuffed them into their ears and they had to find other ways to communicate without speaking. I taught them some sign language and we used the lights (on and off) as a symbol to know when someone was knocking at the door. The funny thing was to listen to them when they put the plugs in: they would speak really loud.

I cannot imagine having to go through life without hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, or having the feel of touch. Though I know many people who have lost one or more of these senses, i am amazed at how they overcome their disability and lead perfectly normal lives. Thank goodness we live in a time when so many opportunities, options and solutions are available today. I thank goodness for my health and my senses!

What is a journey?

What is a journey?

A journey is not a trip.

A journey is not a vacation.

It's a process. A discovery.

It's a process of self discovery.

A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.

A journey shows us not only the world, but how we fit in.

Does the person create the journey or does the journey create the person?

The journey is life itself.

Where will life take you?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmWUUZndIBc&feature=related. Saw this commercial twice while watching the travel channel tonight. It's brilliant.

greetings from africa

I finally heard from eric and heather, here's what they had to say:

Well, we are having a great time on our safari. We are in the middleof our safari now. We spent 3 days in the Serengeti and saw tons ofanimals...lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, hippos, lots of birds,warthogs, wildebeests (the migration and the newborn calves and andthere were thousands) gazelle, antelopes, zebras, impalas, etc.....tomorrow we are going to the ngororgora crater. Since we are in asafari car we can cover a lot of grounds. Did you know that we cantget out of the car in the Serengeti??? Well we are in a nice LandRover car that has retractable sunroofs so we are enjoying the freshair from the car. After 8 hours in the car our bums start to hurt…but it has been a great experience. And our cook has cooked someamazing meals – eric will tell you all about them  Eric also tookTONS of picutures so Im sure you will see them soon!