I promised to follow up with you all about the whole "high cholesterol = heart attack" and how that is a fallacy.

I've already read several articles of "independent" drug tests on the various drugs that lower cholesterol and how well they work. If you can ignore the side effects, it seems they actually DO work. They DO lower your cholesterol. Ah, but here's the kicker. Did lowering cholesterol REDUCE heart attacks? Hell no, they didn't!  Wired just recently came out with an article regarding this very topic. Like I said, from the research I have done, cholesterol is not why you are having a heart attack.

More research:

• The Benefits of High Cholesterol
• Forget Cholesterol - it's really not relevant
• Is High Cholesterol Really Bad?

For anyone out there who reads this stuff. I'm no medical doctor, I'm just a skeptic. Do not take this as medical advise, take it as a dose of skepticism and reality. Now, take your vitamin C, take your Lysine, eat well and exercise.

Last weekend I went an the most amazing photography trip EVER!!! Thanks to The Fuzzball and the GLOF! I am both lucky and honored *formal bow* to be a part of this.

Now onto my perspective on a facet of the road trip.

The people I was with had taken like 200+ pictures before I'd taken 50. I took photography in college as my art requirement and it was black and white film and I learned to frame shots and develop my own photos. You had to frame your photos just right because film, photo paper, and chemicals are expensive! I'm not knocking their style in any way either.

On the contrary, they taught me something I just wouldn't have thought of because of my "schooling". They take a lot pictures because they shoot the same subject from different angles, make aperture adjustments, ISO adjustments etc. I do some of the same things, but ALL before pulling the trigger, a conservatism I guess from the old days of using film.

Just an interesting perspective on the trip. How do you frame and shoot?

Doctors don't really KNOW much more than you do. Yes they have skills and are smart and spend years in school. But do they really KNOW what's going on with your body or anyone else's? No, they have educated guesses. There is no way for them to absolutely KNOW. I'm not knocking doctors or their craft, I'm just saying I take all recommendations and advice with a dose of skepticism.

I just read an awesome article, "The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know" regarding this very thing.

My personal experience stems from my daughter and my "high" cholesterol. All during her pregnancy, and then her birth, and then the on going care and well being of her. Books by "experts" and doctor consults said all kinds of things and often times contradictory. Feed her this but not that, make sure she does this but not that, do a back flip and stand on your nose. During this whole time, I was thinking to myself, my Mom didn't have all this crap going on when she raised me and I'm doing very well. My Mom's Mom had even less. Do we really NEED to follow all of this advice? No, you don't, but keep your common sense about you. When your little girl is sick and the regular remedies are not working, go to the doctor.

My second experience has to do with my "high" cholesterol level. Let me preface this with I'm 35ish and in good shape. I exercise vigorously at least 2x a week, but usually 3x for at least an hour each time. I also eat eggs every morning and I like my red meat and fries. I don't remember the exact numbers for my "good" and "bad" cholesterol count but my "bad" was too high but my "good" was high too. My "good" count was significantly higher than most and my Doc was surprised. The doc suggested I go on Lipitor. Well before making a decision and with a healthy dose of skepticism I researched online about the side-effects. The first thing I read was "memory loss". Are you EFFIN kidding me? Hell no, I'm not taking this crap.

I continued my research and found an article that stated the actual CAUSE of a blood clot is damage to the inside wall of the arteries or veins, NOT cholesterol. Again, the actual CAUSE of a blood clot is damage to the inside wall of the arteries or veins, NOT cholesterol. Cholesterol is involved because it is the agent that falls into the damaged area and then starts collecting and building up until the pathway is clogged. This article states that if you fix the damaged pathways with Lysine and then take vitamin C to keep them healthy, then the cholesterol in your system will not clot. [Lipitor and other cholesterol affecting drugs have not significantly lowered the cases of blood clots by the way. I'll post on that later.]

It was a no brainer for me. I went with the Lysine/Vitamin C route. I take a multivitamin and an extra 2000mg of vitamin C everyday. I would rather have a heart attack later then not remember what my daughter told me 10 minutes ago. Ironically, after I had read and learned these things, I watched a Centrum multivitamin commercial where they actually state that they are increasing the amount of vitamin C in their standard multivitamin product. How's that for serendipity?

My Nephew, Dallas, my older Sister's son, got in a food fight at school recently and now has to serve a 3 day in school suspension. That of course doesn't mean the punishment is over. He still has to deal with his Mom. I thought getting in a food fight was funny, but of course deserves a punishment for bad behavior.

His little sister was worried about Dallas getting a spanking and defended him by saying "he didn't know any better". Yeah, it gets funnier. My Sis (Dallas's Mom) decided on a more creative punishment and it was not a spanking. Dallas, for a full 2 weeks, has to wear the outfits his Mom chooses! LOL, that punishment is AWESOME and fits (pun intended) the crime. In addition to that, he's on poop duty for his dog AND the neighbor's dog.

Dallas is currently wishing he'd got a spanking.

In my eyes, this is what Family is all about. Sharing, caring and learning from each other. I would never have thought of dressing my daughter the way I want as a form of punishment, but I bet one day it will come in very handy. It will probably be the worst punishment she's ever heard of. Even worse than taking her phone/computer privileges away.

A close friend of mine is generally an insecure person and at times she gets very depressed. She's gone through a lot in the past year and it's taking a toll. I am, on the other hand, fairly confident and secure (hopefully w/o coming across as arrogant). We talked over some things and it brought me to this question:

What is different about an insecure person's thought process than mine?

Here's what I think. Insecure people take things very personally and need validation for their actions often and immediately i.e. They seem to obsess with how other people perceive them. Their thought process is along the lines of, "Did I do something THEY like?"

My thought process, and I'm betting this is the same thought process for other confident people, is, "Did I do something I feel is right." It has to mean something to ME, not the other people in the world.

And finally it all comes down to being OK with people not liking your decision. I felt I did the right thing and that's enough for me.

Insecure people seem to try and find themselves and validation from others... asking that never ending question of, "So what do you think? So what do you think they think?"

Will changing one's through process make a person less insecure? I think it would. Can it actually be done? I think it can. I used to hide my insecurity with arrogance. Now I feel I'm way less arrogant and more confident. So I believe, without any concious thought, that I went through a thought changing process. From wondering how other people felt about me to wondering how I feel about ME.

I no longer wonder how I feel about me. It's automatic. I like me. And so should you (and I mean YOU should like YOU).

I took 2 photography courses in college to make my art requirement. I have alway been interested in photography because it was a way to "artfully" express myself. I can't draw, I can't paint, I can't write poetry or write songs. I can definitely frame a picture and I have a very fast trigger finger, so by default, photography became my outlet for expressing myself "artfully". I LOVE photography.

After living here in Houston for 2 years I finally (what took me so long) decided to do a search for "Houston Photography". It turns out there is a very strong and active community here. I found Photine, which is a wonderfully written blog. For some reason it is extremely engaging. I'm betting because there's true genuiness (is that word?). Anyway, the author is a photog and I've followed her links to other Houston photogs: CyberToad, Martin, and of course Photine's. One day, when I get the time and the nerve, I'll post my photos too.

Random thoughts... I make my living on the web. I'm a web programmer, yet it never ceases to amaze me how cool the Web is and easy it is to connect; with blogs, with twitter, facebook, etc.

Clive Thompson on How Twitter Creates a Social Sixth Sense is the name of the article on Wired.

This is THE sentence that convinced me to use Twitter: "For example, when I meet Misha for lunch after not having seen her for a month, I already know the wireframe outline of her life: She was nervous about last week's big presentation, got stuck in a rare spring snowstorm, and became addicted to salt bagels."

I thought to myself that this would be the perfect way for all my friends and family to be able to see what is going on in my daily life. In addition to that, I'm not spamming them with emails. Not only do they get to choose to participate, but they get choose how often. I thought that was a perfect way to share my life with the people I care about. Granted I had to make mine public since some of my friends and family are too lazy to create an account, but I try to be very careful with what I say.

Anyway, I'm a huge fan of Twitter and (most of) my sisters are now signed up and Twittering away too. Good stuff!