I was going somewhere with this

I am a scanner of news articles. That is, I don't always read the whole article. I read the title, decide if I'm interested, and depending on my level of interest, I either read it from top to bottom (often repeating sentences) or I scan the article for key words.

Now this must go back to being in school, and using this technique (the scanning, not reading top to bottom) to read quickly, highlighting key points to get the facts or the support for the thesis of the article/book. So when I read the title for the following article, I decided that I was interested, but only enough to scan it.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070730/trudeau_magazine_070730/20070730?hub=Politics

After scanning the article, I concluded that Beaver Magazine must be a satirical publication - nothing to take seriously - grocery line trash stuff. How could Pierre Trudeau be voted the worst Canadian in Canada's history? So I decide to re-scan the article, only to find that Beaver Magazine is published by Canada's National History Society...so they must be a satirical fluff organization. They MUST be.

Now let's get back to my reading techniques - I'm not sure that I excel at scanning. I only just realized now that had I excelled at scanning, I would have excelled at university - and not relied on my "creative writing" for my BA.

But then again, my BA is heavily centered around history credits - and history, as tallied in Beaver Magazine, is all about the fiction, not the facts.

I anxiously await your response,

Emily

Don't go to the gym on Sunday's

Jason and I returned to the mental gym this morning - both feeling ready to get hit by the heavy bag.

Before we share our scores with you - have you gone to the gym lately? Flexed those mental muscles? Charged those wires? A new televised Test the Nation will be airing on CBC in September!

Ok here are our scores:

Emily: 70% 1:18:776

Jason: 70% 1:02:084

Together: 90% 48:292

Yeah, today sucked. big time.

http://www.cbc.ca/testthenation/mentalgym/archive/week2/

Maybe you should give it a hit.

Feeling beaten,

Em

it's time for a change

I have always found the word "sclerosis" disturbing. It just isn't a nice word: it can be difficult to pronounce, and it doesn't really sound like anything in our daily language. I wonder if I never bothered to learn anything about MS just because I didn't like the word - it scared me.

Now I know that sclerosis is the hardening of tissues, or the formation of scars around the nerve cells.

So I was thinking, if ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) is commonly referred to as Lou-Gehrig's disease, why can't MS have a famous name?

I have listed some potential names here:

Annette Funicello disease
Teri Garr disease
Alan Eagleson disease
Lena Horne disease
Montel Williams disease
David Lander disease
Richard Pryor disease
Alan Osmond disease

My personal preference would be Mo-Williams Disease. Do you think he would mind?
The above listed celebrities have multiple sclerosis. There are more - too many to make a list here. There are even lists of celebrities with family members with MS (Wade Boggs' sister, Adam Sandler's cousin etc) but that would make for too long of a name.

Cheerio,

Em

regarding my previous post on MS

As the title says, regarding my previous post, I have theories as to what causes MS, and they don't revolve around a lack of sunlight (from which you receive vitamin D).

Now my credentials aren't the best. I only took the mandatory sciences in high school (chemistry) and I was too busy confronting the teacher for being a sexist, that I don't remember much about the material.

However, I know that I did not experience a lack of sunlight in my childhood. I'm from a generation that lived outside (unlike the current one). I worshiped the sun, and despite having freckles, I rarely burned in the sun. I await the day that I'm told I have irreparable skin damage or disease because I didn't wear sunscreen...I wasn't supposed to be told that I have MS because I likely didn't get enough sun.

So how does that translate to the statistics that show there are more people diagnosed with MS in northern hemisphere countries...could it be that we are more efficient and confident at diagnosing it?

Or...This brings me to my theory. I believe that they are on the cusp of solving the MS mystery. I think that they have the information they need - in the pregnant women with MS. I believe that there is something hormonal that causes it (which would explain why more women than men have MS). We now know that the disease appears to almost go into remission when a woman is pregnant.

Ok, so why is it more common in the northern hemisphere...I don't know. I didn't take science, or statistics for that matter, but I could say, it's hormones, they can be different because of the food we eat!

When I received my diagnosis, I was told by my trusty neurologist (he himself is a spinal cord researcher) (not the other one) that he believes MS will be solved in our lifetime. Go researchers!



This is me worshiping the sun, in the dark (Aug 1988)

Ta ta,

Em

DNA

Check out my personality DNA




Scroll over the coloured boxes for the traits.

Stylin,

Em

New MS Study

I just came across this recent article on MS:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070723/sun_ms_070723/20070723?hub=Health

If I had a twin - I would screw up the study!

Ok, now for what I really thought when I read the article...
BULLSHIT.

dreams

Ugh. I just had one of those awful dreams, from which when you wake up, you are exhausted: mentally and physically beat.

For me, it is a slightly altered replay of my days as a Swiss Chalet/Zellers Restaurant food server (in other words, a waitress). I call it slightly altered because my uniform is a Zellers polyester wrap around dress, with the uncaring, unprofessional, and rude kitchen help is Swiss Chalet. Those two elements alone make it a nightmare.

Anyway, the details of the dream aren't the important part, and there isn't much involved in the dream, other than me scurrying around between two sides of the restaurant, never able to catch up with things. I don't get the food out before the fries get cold. I arrive at the table carrying four full dinner plates, and I can't remember who ordered what, and the people at the table just sit there, motionless and speechless, when I say, "ok, a 1/2 chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy...". I can't get out coffee refills, and the table behind the one that needs coffee, wants there order taken, and the table beside that one wants their dessert, and the kitchen meanies are calling me to pick up the order for across the restaurant, and I can't find a cloth to wipe off a dirty table that new people are now sitting at, and these isn't any cream out to get some for the coffee refill table.

But that's ok, because another server thought that she would be helpful, and while passing by carrying dirty plates, she drops down 3 creamers on my table, "here you go". No wait, that's not helpful, the creamers are empty.

And this dream just keep going on, and on, and on...

#1 & #2 July 17

#1 July 17

I thought that you should know

Jason and I went to Bulk Barn the other day to pick up some...candy. I decided to search the bins for something that I hadn't had in a long time - Swedish Berries. Instead, I found Finnish Berries...same colour, but much larger than Swedish Berries.

Not willing to give up, I asked the cashier if they had any Swedish Berries (maybe they weren't considered candies after all, and they were located in a healthier aisle), and she said, "Yes, they're called Finnish Berries now".

So, from one citizen of the world to another, I thought that I should let you know - Finland has overtaken Sweden.

Was there a struggle? mass casualties? is someone now in hiding? will there be a musical concert to raise funds for Swedish people?

And what will happen to IKEA?

our car

Today, our car is at the dealership getting fixed. Jason and his dad conceded to modern car-knowlogy.

I sure hope that I don't get a bill from Park Pontiac for two missing screws.

NVC

Hello, my name is Emily, and I am moderately addicted to Facebook.

Current friends, old friends, family...and who knows who or what else (I think even former kryptonite!), have all entered (or re-entered) into my life via this fabulous social utility.

But no, I'm not there just to have fun (petting frogs, looking at pictures, sharing compliments and drinks, avoiding flying giraffes and bragging about my latest poker victory).

A re-connection with an old friend, has introduced me to NVC - non-violent communication (also referred to as compassionate communication). It sounds interesting, so if you too would like to check it out, I'll get you started with this link:

http://www.cnvc.org/nvc.htm

I think this is a good addiction...kind of like beads...or Mini Wheats.

return to the gym!

Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

I just completed week 3 at the gym an I am pumped!

http://www.cbc.ca/testthenation/mentalgym/archive/week3/


Emily 80 % 1:22:199

I missed one question due to insufficient time. I felt a bit deflated when I finished the test, but when my score came up - elation!

Now Jason is up to the mat:

Jason 90 % 1:10:791 :-P'' ' '

whoa.

How did you do?

screws

Jason (with the help of his dad) took apart the inside of our car the other day, in search of a resistor, somewhere behind the dash/console.

Jason (with the help of his dad) put the inside of our car back together. There are two screws left.

Flower Watch

#6 Taken on July 4

Princess Diana

This past Sunday, I watched the Concert for Diana. I have been a Princess Diana follower since she entered into the public eye. I watched her wedding, I watched her funeral, and now I have seen a remembrance celebration of her life, on what would have been her 46th birthday.

The June 18th 2007 Maclean's magazine features Diana on its cover, with text that reads: "Commemorative Issue Diana Ten Years Later: Why the Royals Want Her Forgotten". The main article in the issue (written by Rosalind Miles) is nothing commemorative at all. It's all about the Diana that we barely knew, the "insights" into her life following her death, the books that are yet to published that depict Diana as everything but the People's Princess. The article paints Diana in a bad light (even Jason noticed, and he's not a Diana follower).

I don't care about that stuff. What her son's did, assembling artistic performances and footage of their mother being a compassionate person, I care about. In death, I don't care if dirt on Anna Nicole Smith is stirred up. But for Diana, a woman who filled her life with charity, compassion, and patronage, let that be the end. And Maclean's - don't fill your Commemorative Issue with gossip and dirt when there is solid proof of things worth commemorating.

Now I'm not denying that Diana may have had another side: that she may have suffered from emotional issues, that she was unhappy, that she was manipulative and selfish, and had too many lovers. Diana was a real person. A real person who did extraordinary things when no one else would.