For all you Animal Lovers

This is a heartwarming video of the mother's instinct in animals! It almost made me cry! Perfect for Valentine's Day!

What If.....

As a child I always wondered what it would be like to have been born be someone else. I'd sprout hypotheticals constantly to my parents:

"What if I'd been born a beaver, where would I have lived?"

"If I'd been a deer, what would I eat?"

"If I was a tree, would it hurt to be cut down?"

I ruminated these possibilities over and over again. As young as 5 or 6, I thought I could have easily been born into any type of form, whether it was animal or plant or human. As an older child, I'd pretend I was a horse, or a deer in the dark woods, jumping over logs and thick brush. I'd lie under my trees for hours as they told me secrets. I'd stare at my Mother's green eyes, wondering what it would be like to be behind them, what it was like in her world, how she thought of what to say next.

I used to wonder about the universe, about the dimensions of time and space. I thought that our world wasn't at all as it seems, that it's full of secrets. I pictured my physical body on a treadmill, the world moving around me. How do we know what we see is real? Why do we trust our senses so much? These are the questions that plagued my young mind, even before I saw The Matrix.

Sometimes I wonder why I thought these things as a child. I've heard that when we are young, our minds are the closest to a collective conciousness, a force, God. Maybe children know more about the universe than scientists. I find that as I age, I don't think of these things anymore. I wonder what I'll cook for dinner tonight, or what chores I want to accomplish. I think of what bills I'll pay, or what vacation I'll plan next. Sometimes I wish my mind could lift itself from the petty, and focus on these bigger questions of this marvelous universe and world we lived in.

The time to start thinking is now....

The Meeting of a President

The newsroom buzzed like a hive for Secret Service agents today. They scanned the crowds with stern eyes, looking tough in black suits, that telltale curly white cord twisting out of their ears. Even a bomb-sniffing dog was brought in to check out the radio studio, where former President Jimmy Carter would be joining us live for an in-person interview.

He arrived with pomp and splendor, flash-bulbs went off, a television camera-person walked backward, one huge eye trained on a United States President. Mr. Carter's smile was huge and genuine, and he walked up to each of us sitting in the "power pod" outside the studio, shaking our hands. I thought he'd forget about me, as a secret service agent stood RIGHT in front of me, but I saw his hand and smiling face bend toward me. Several seconds after shaking his hand I sat there in shock, melting in his energy. I wasn't alive when Jimmy Carter was President, but I understood how big of a deal it is to meet him. Most people never touch a President in their lifetimes.

During a commerical break, we all ran into the studio, one by one, to get our picture taken. This is the most charismatic man I've ever stood next to, and I was honored.

When to make the call

In fast-paced, "feed the beast" profession like radio news, it's hard to know when it's reasonable to call in sick. If I worked at a ho-hum office job, I probably would have taken Monday, Tuesday and today off. It's not like I'm horribly sick or anything, I just don't feel 100 percent. I've been sneezing, my eyes gushing buckets, and very tired, but I'm not achy or seriously stuffed up. If I worked in a profession where I didn't think my contribution was vital, I would take days off without thinking twice.

But working in news radio is a another ball game. I know what it's like when the station is down one reporter. The editor scrambles, the product going over the air suffers (or so I'd like to think). For me, I have to feel really bad for it to make sense for me to call in sick, which usually happens once per year. I did in December, which is why I hesitated to call in this week. In December I felt miserable, and compared to that, I feel pretty good right now. Even though I wish I could snuggle in my bed, and sleep for hours.

I know other members of my radio station feel this self-induced "guilt trip" as well. People will drag themselves in feeling horrid, and the boss literally has to tell them to go home. I don't hesitate to tell one of my coworkers to stay home, rest, get well. But I have a hard time applying that logic to myself. Why is this? I think because as journalists, we really care about the quality of our radio station. It's ownership - that's my station, and I want it to do well. I want to report the news, I want people to be informed.

This is an endless cycle. Sick people come to work, and get others sick, and soon the newsroom is one gigantic raging germ. Sometimes I wish we just wouldn't care so much, but then again, that's the whole point in being in a profession we love.

The Garlic Cure

I think I went through the entire cycle of a cold in one day. I woke up sneezing and achy, and knew with dread that a cold was coming on. David has been sick this entire week, and coworkers have also gotten sick, so I knew it was only a matter of time. I knew, even though my breath would be stale for hours, that I needed to break out the garlic.

I often forget about this simple home remedy. But whenever I remember, it seems to work wonders. I finely dice a raw clove of garlic, mix it with mayo, and eat it on a cracker. I'm sure to chew the garlic to release its healing oils, and it burns going down, and often makes me nauseous for a moment. When I googled garlic, this is what I found out:

Allicin and the sulfur compounds of garlic are the ingredients primarily responsible for garlic's potency as an antibiotic, anti-viral and a fungicide and for its use in treating high blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, and for helping to prevent certain types of cancer, as well as its use as an immune stimulant. Allicin is a strong antibiotic agent produced when the alliin and alliinase are merged together, as happens when a fresh garlic clove is crushed or chewed.

It also can be used to break up the mucus in sinuses, and alleve symptoms of athsma. After I ate the raw garlic, I pictured its compounds riding around my body on red blood cells, destroying every piece of virus in its wake. And what do you know, I think it worked.

I started feeling really crappy yesterday afternoon, and was sure I'd have to call in sick. I was feeling alternately hot and cold, and my nose was running a race. I just felt awful. But by evening, my nose started clearing up, and I felt more energetic. By this morning, I almost feel all the way better, although the nose is still a big congested. I should have eaten another clove of garlic this morning.

I also have to add that I also drank probably 7 cups of tea yesterday, a fruit salad filled with Vitamin C, chicken noodle soup with cayenne, and 2 glasses of cranberry juice.

The moral of this story is: never underestimate the power of natural medicine, and the power of visualization.

Dexter - Love it or Hate it

I can't decide how I feel about this show Dexter. On one hand, it seriously disturbs me, enough to make my stomach clench with anxiety and nausea. On the other hand, the premise is so unique and interesting, the dialogue witty enough, that I keep on watching it.

David and I turned on the first episode with dinner plates on our laps, and both of us were so immediately disgusted and transfixed that we stared at the television without taking a bite. When I saw Dexter kidnap this child molester, then cut his cheek with a knife, and strap him to a table using saran wrap, it was too much. I didn't want to know what he'd do next with that pile of knives on the table. My stomach lurched and David yelled, "PAUSE IT!" We sat there motionless for several moments, trying to decide what to do. "Ok, just move it to the next chapter," David said, rather sensibly. Then, the show moved into reasonable territory, and we were able to eat our dinners.

I like true crime books, and crime shows. I love Anne Rule, the true crime genius, and Patricia Cornwall, who writes books from a medical examiner's perspective. I think the "cop" angle of Dexter is interesting. I like forensics. I like when the main character solves crimes using blood spatter analysis. I like the tension and humor.

I think what I can't handle about this show is the pre-meditated murder. Even though Dexter is murdering evil people, I can't get past the fact that he is killing. He stalks people, figures them out, then kills them in really gross ways that leave me feeling sick to my stomach. I come from a perspective that murder is wrong, unless my life or the lives of my loved ones are imminently at risk. It's this reason that I disagree with the death penalty. Two wrongs don't make a right. So when I watch the show, Dexter, something about it is so incredibly wrong to me on a very fundamental level. For that reason, I have a hard time watching it and feel sick to my stomach afterwards. When I watch a show for pleasure, I want it to make me feel good inside.

Like Curb Your Enthusiasm. Or Sex and the City. Or Dancing with the Stars. Or Grey's Anatomy. Yes, all very benign.

I know Dexter and this topic are both very controversial, and for that reason, I think its a great show to spark dialogue.

So, have you seen Dexter? What do you like or dislike about it, and why?

A Mixed Homecoming

The first thing I noticed when I got back into the United States were the newspapers. Headlines shouted the bad news about the economy, saying "look at me, things are really failing in this country." I immediately felt a jolt of anxiety about the job market, the stock market, the housing market. After that, I felt anger. How dare the media scare us so much, instead of help us get along in our lives? Is this news, or is this shock journalism? I just came from a third world country, where mothers and their dirty children sat on blankets on street corners, begging for a peso. I came from a place where drug cartels are ruling the border, and hundreds of people are dying. I came from a place with a serious lack of social systems, where poverty scrapes the bottom, and people do anything to get by. They wash the windows of cars waiting at stoplights, they sell gum and flowers to people dining on outdoor patios. Indian women walk for miles into town to sell their hand-sewn dolls.

Here in the United States, we have it good. There are unemployment benefits, welfare, programs for the homeless and hungry. We don't see 5-year-olds peddling gum. Yes, we are in an economic downturn, but we are the richest country in the world. Our own President is talking about a TRILLION dollar stimulus package. What are we complaining about? Yes, it's important to know the facts, but I'm tired of the shouting, the blaming, the screaming, angry black headlines.

On the other hand, it's beautiful being back in my country. It's nice speaking and reading English, seeing the knowing nods of the homeland security agents. My comfortable bed and pillow felt like heaven, and I loved being in my own house all day yesterday. When I first saw Puget Sound again, I felt like a long drought was over. I love seeing the water, the tall pine trees, the scent of earthy forest. I'm thankful I have a job, and that I'm lucky enough to belong to a gym and eat healthy, good food. There is so much here to be thankful for, so much to enjoy, I'm just so sick and tired of all the negativity.