Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'all's neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found
Without the soul for getting down
Must stand and face the hounds of hell
And rot inside a corpse's shell

The foulest stench is in the air
The funk of forty thousand years
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb
Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive
Your body starts to shiver
For no mere mortal can resist
The evil of the Thriller


No matter how weird he became, I will always remember dancing around to Michael Jackson when I was a little girl. I think he was the first musical artist I was a fan of - can't decide whether it was him or Madonna.

EDIT: My mom just reminded me that at my birthday party when I was 7 or 8 we played "pin the glove on Michael Jackson"!

Excerpts from an actual 8-K SEC filing (http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/746515/000119312509135706/d8k.htm)

1. In the 10-K, you note that as of December 31, 2008, EXPD incurred approximately $14 million of cumulative legal and associated costs related to the DOJ investigation, of which $10 million occurred in 2008. What were your Legal costs associated with the Federal antitrust class action lawsuit and/or the European Commission’s request for information beyond those related to the DOJ investigation and what were your total legal costs for all of 2008 compared to 2007? Do you anticipate any incremental legal expense associated with the European Commission’s additional request for information at your U.K. subsidiary in connection with the ongoing freight forwarder investigation? What do you expect your total Legal and associated costs in 2009 to look like compared to 2008?

Legal costs for the Federal anti-trust class action lawsuit and the European Commission’s Request for Information (RFI) have been a relatively small part of the $14 million of legal fees incurred related to anti-trust investigations. The lion’s share of legal expenses have primarily been related to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) anti-trust investigation. While legal expenses have abated, relative to levels being incurred a year ago, we still expect to have some ongoing legal expenses during 2009 related to each of these aforementioned proceedings. Without being trite, as we’ve addressed this topic before on more than one occasion, an attempt to predict the magnitude of these expenses at this juncture would be pointless as we feel the ongoing questions asking us to predict future legal spend have been. We understand everyone’s interest in the topic, it is something we are keenly interested in as well. We would hope, however, that everyone understands that if we actually knew enough to be able to predict our legal expenses, that would be an associative discussion which would follow a much more serious disclosure. At that juncture, legal fees would be of lesser concern.

When you come from a frame of reference, as we do, where $0 spent on legal expense would be the most preferred alternative, having to predict anything beyond that, by its nature, would become inherently and incredibly biased towards our own wants, desires and expectations. To us, this is somewhat akin to being asked to predict how many minutes after being force fed a dead frog we would throw-up…and the operative word is “force,” as we’d never elect to do either on our own. In both cases (the legal fees or swallowing the dead frog) we’re certain we would eventually throw up. In neither case do we know exactly how much money or how much time would pass before we did. In both cases, however, our gut check, no pun intended, is not very much and not very long! It should go without saying that given our druthers, we’d rather not spend the legal fees or eat the dead frog in the first place. Sometimes you don’t get the luxury of deciding what you have to eat. When you do, and it’s unpalatable, it should be obvious that you would eat as little as possible. What we are certain of is that if we were talking about being force fed dead frogs and not incurring excessive legal fees, people would be content accepting at face value that it would be as little as possible. Please rest assured, however, that whatever our legal costs are during the next year, while they will be more than we want, they will be the least amount that we can spend to completely and competently comply with ongoing requests or requirements of the various government and/or civil authorities overseeing these various proceedings.

7. Can you outline any specific things that the company is doing to curtail expenses in this very difficult economic downturn? Do you have a corporate aircraft fleet? If so, have you downsized that fleet?

If you compare our operating income percentages with those companies whom the analysts designate as our peer group, you will note that our operating income percentages are much higher, nearly double of most of those within the market defined peer group we are thrown in with. We have also done responsible, measured things when times were good. Perhaps the most significant thing we can point to is having had the good fortune to have developed a corporate culture and a compensation system that reinforces the need for constant productivity improvement by tying people’s individual compensation to direct operating profit, on a cumulative basis. As a consequence, we’ve always done many of the things people are just getting around to doing now in an attempt to tighten their belts. We initiated a hiring freeze last year. There are, of course, reasonable and logical exceptions that need to be made in instances, for example, where new business comes on—trying to handle new business with inadequate resources flies in the face of one of our 2009 corporate goals—“Don’t do anything stupid”. Our hiring freeze is also a “Don’t do anything stupid” (D2AS) kind of hiring freeze. “Don’t do anything stupid” also means that we don’t take steps in the name of short-term profitability that will weaken our long-term capability to meet the service needs of our customers nor damage our greatest asset—our employees.

Tonight we took my grandmother out for her 98th birthday. At dinner she tells us she just renewed her driver's license...it now expires in 2017.

She was driving up until last year - and she was a good driver. She has 20/20 vision now that she had her cataracts removed, which is all the DMV requires! But seriously, folks...shouldn't there be some actual test of driving ability? or reflexes or something??

Another reason to choose supplements/remedies carefully! People just assume herbal/homeopathic remedies or supplements are safe. The FDA has little to no control over what is sold.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/17/health/AP-US-MED-Remedies-Homeopathy-Patient.html

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/health/policy/17nasal.html?em

one of my friends from college was born without a sense of smell - she has never known what it is like. I can't imagine how weird it would be to not smell anything.

[from the NYTimes a few years ago...so appropriate!]
By MICHAEL RUBINER

Wednesday in New York : Rain. Heavy at times. Followed by periods of precipitation.

Thursday : Lingering showers throughout the day. Chance of rain 800 percent.

Friday : Moist. Damp. Sodden.

Saturday : Rainish. Showery. Precipitacious.

Sunday : Light rain followed by heavy rain followed by pouring.

Monday : Unseasonably rainy in the morning. Uncharitably rainy in the afternoon. Unconscionably rainy in the evening.

Tuesday : Endless showers broken up by occasional flooding.

Wednesday : Remember "Waterworld"? Like that, only with more rain.

Thursday : Not sunny. The opposite of sunny. Just forget about sunny, O.K.?

Friday : Clearing just long enough for you to make weekend plans. Followed by obscene amounts of rain.

Saturday : Take a wild guess.

Sunday : Incessant, spirit-crushing rain. The kind of rain that makes it futile to get out of bed in the morning. The kind of rain that seems as if it will never end. And guess what? It never will. Ever. Do you understand?

Monday : Please go away.

Tuesday : Ample, brilliant sunshine throughout the day. Wait - did I say sunshine? I meant rain. Really hard rain.

I wish i could recreate the class, but it's just not possible. A lot of it was review, but still great. This will probably come out as a rambling jumble of ideas. i often don't post because i seem to take a loooong time to put coherent ideas together and i am usually just too exhausted to expend the effort.

Anyway, we talked about causes of obesity: lifestyle, genetic, behavioral, environmental, metabolic. By the end, i realized that i have probably been subconsciously underestimating both genetic and environmental factors. For example, we touched upon nutritional genomics and fetal programming. We mentioned the 1945 Dutch famine, and the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort Study. Children of women who were pregnant during this time were found to have a greater chance of becoming obese, having diabetes and heart disease (suggesting that they were programmed to retain calories). These children were also born small, which sounds logical during a famine. What is really fascinating is that the children of these children were also born smaller than average. The famine had some kind of lasting genetic effect.

Now, I don't think this means that someone in that type of situation is doomed - obviously, not every person became an overweight adult. It's just one of the many factors to consider in understanding why it can be so difficult to lose weight. Sleep also plays a larger role than we realize. The composition of our diets today are so different - so many additives, added sugars, etc. We also discussed food as an addiction. The DSM IV criteria really do seem to apply in some cases. Also talked about whether obesity is a disease or a risk factor.

One of the more interesting discussions took place during the break and after class. I asked one girl who had attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) about it. I have been so immersed in nutrition science and environmental/policy issues lately, and I am curious what the numerous holistic/nutrition "certification" programs are being taught. First, I just don't see how you can become a nutrition educator in a 6-month program. Yet people from IIN go out and set up practices and have clients, etc. I think they must be good at giving the basics and empowering people to start a career and be good businesspeople. It's sort of retarded that I (and many other students) don't even feel qualified at this point - there is still so much to learn, but i have to remember how much I have learned already and focus on that.

I want to take a holistic approach in my practice. But I don't think i need a "program" to teach me that. It's a mindset in counseling people - an approach that takes the whole person into consideration - emotional and physical. I am realizing more and more how the American Dietetic Association is "in bed" with the food industry, but it's just something we have to recognize and deal with. I am also realizing how there are many different schools of thought in this field. There are RDs working for every food company out there. And there is just so much money in it, if you can do that kind of work. A woman who contacted a classmate about being a spokesperson for high fructose corn syrup (and how it's totally the same as sugar, as shown by industry-funded research) was an RD. What is up with that? How about taking a look at both sides? Oh wait, i forgot that no one is funding independent research....Food science aside, HFCS is found mostly in highly processed products. I think it was Andrew Weil who said that HFCS is the hallmark of a low quality food.

ok, long ramble here. i could go on and on.

just got this in a Vassar Alumnae/i eNewsletter:


Pirates!

The serenity of a peaceful spring Sunday was shaken on May 10 when Vassar fell victim to an invasion of pirates — members of the Bard College student group P.I.R.A.T.E.S. (People Interested in Restoring a Tradition of Excellence at Sea), that is.

According to Madison Fletcher, a Bard freshman and a participant in the raid, the pirates were of the friendly variety, attempting to bring some cheer and entertainment to Vassar students during the frenzy of finals. “When we raided this year we knew that the kids had finals the next day but we figured that we could bring some comical stress relief,” she says — “and I believe we did to some. It really is just playful fun.”

P.I.R.A.T.E.S. was founded in the fall of 2003 by two Bard freshmen who hoped to use their fledgling group to screen pirate movies, throw pirate-themed parties, and raid Vassar. P.I.R.A.T.E.S. cofounder Josh Klein-Kuhn, Bard ’07, recounts that on their first raid, upon “slunk[ing], en masse, onto campus,” the “two large vans’ worth” of pirates “ran around the quad, demanding booty.” They then created a scene in ACDC [the all-campus dining center], where several “fair maidens went shrieking in, followed closely by bloodthirsty pirates, who chased them around the serving area.”

This year’s raid, in contrast, was somewhat tamer. The Bard students, bedecked in swashbuckling apparel, cruised a 17-man paper ship through the quad, crying “Barrrrrd!” along the way. After the requisite staking of (peaceful) conquest flags, which bore the letter “B” imposed over a skull and crossbones, the incursion concluded on the steps of ACDC, where the pirates reveled in traditional piratic greeting and cheer. “We even had a few Vassar students join in,” Fletcher notes. “We made them ‘walk the plank.’”

Just had my second class of the short summer course i'm taking: Women & Weight. It meets 4 mornings a week for this week and next. Kind of intense!

Anyway, it seems to be a very interesting course, which seeks to examine why women (more than men) internalize the issue of weight, and how we (as future health professionals) can help. It is co-taught by a psychoanalyst and a nutrition therapist who handles a lot of clients with eating disorders. Here is the course overview:

Class 1: Introduction and Overview: the scope of the work
This was yesterday. One of the most interesting and disturbing exercises we did was to write whatever words or phrases came to mind upon hearing the word "fat." Shocking how many we came up with, and how negative they were, and how most of the physically descriptive ones applied only to women.

Class 2: What do we Understand About Her: Psychology
Today we talked about lots of different approaches to therapy, including the classical Freudian psychoanalysis but also others such as the realtional approach and self-psychological approach. Although i was a psych major, it's been a while...The case studies we read were very interesting, mostly illustrating how food becomes the substitute for something missing in the person's life (control, caring/love, rebellion, etc) and how that was addressed in therapy. A lot of these are really psych issues, but it's important to understand and be able to recognize when a client's needs are beyond the scope of our training as nutritionists. Oh, but i should mention that the course is open to everyone, so it's not just nutrition students.

Class 3: Why She is Fat and Getting Fatter: Genetic, Physiology and the Environment
Class 4: Why She is Thin and Getting Thinner: Bulimia and Anorexia
Class 5: How Does She See Herself? Body Image
Class 6: How Does the Word See Her? The Social and Cultural Message
Class 7: How Do We Help Her: Interventions
Class 8: Where Do We Go From Here: Integration

There are little TV screens in the elevators at work. They show Captivate Network (http://www.captivate.com/) weather and news blurbs, stock quotes, Word of the Day, etc. Things you can read in the 30 - 60 seconds you are in an elevator. I often wonder what news items they choose to display.

For example:

Last week i was informed that while attractiveness is helpful in getting a job, actually having a brain and being smart is also useful for getting a higher salary.

Who knew??! And here I've been spending all this time in beauty salons....i'm going to run out and start developing my brain now.

Thanks for the insight, Captivate!!

http://gizmodo.com/5253324/how-big-is-the-new-enterprise-compared-to-galactica

(no spoilers)

(also from Dr.Weil.com)

Best sources: wild-caught Alaskan salmon, canned sockeye salmon, sardines, herring, and black cod.

Worst fish choices:
1. Large predatory fish. Shark, swordfish, tilefish, king mackerel, and white (albacore) tuna may have high levels of mercury. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of contaminants, and should avoid these species. (Small-catch tuna is OK, as it has high levels of omega-3s.)

2. Omega-6 rich fish. Farm-raised tilapia is one of the most highly consumed fish in America, yet it has very low levels of beneficial omega-3s and very high levels of potentially detrimental omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, and inflammation is known to cause damage to blood vessels, the heart, lung and joint tissues, skin, and the digestive tract.

3. Farmed salmon. Avoid farmed salmon (also called Atlantic salmon), which is what you typically find in supermarkets, restaurants and fish markets. While less expensive than wild salmon, farmed salmon is lower in omega-3s and may contain residues of antibiotics and other drugs used to treat diseases in fish farming pens. What's more, levels of PCBs and other contaminants in some farmed salmon have been found to be much higher than those found in wild salmon.

Folic Acid May Tone Down Allergy, Asthma Symptoms

The higher your blood levels of folic acid, the less chance you may have of developing allergies or asthma. While that conclusion needs to be confirmed by further studies, researchers from Johns Hopkins have reported that folic acid may help regulate immune system responses to allergens (ragweed pollen, dust and other substances that set off sneezing, wheezing) and also reduce the symptoms of allergy and asthma. The Hopkins team reviewed the medical records of more than 8,000 people ages two to 85, tracking the effect of levels of folate (the naturally occurring form of folic acid) on respiratory and allergy symptoms and on levels of IgE antibodies, the immune system proteins that rise in response to allergens. They found that individuals with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing and a lower likelihood of asthma. The findings were published online ahead of print in the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. The investigators are planning a study comparing the effects of supplemental folic acid and placebo in people with allergies and asthma.

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/WBL02139/Take-this-Potent-BrainProtective-Nutrient.html

Nothing that new, but interesting all the same. I wonder if the original article addressed the solubility of the compounds in food. I'd think that whether a compound is fat soluble or water soluble also comes into play, and might be the reason why boiling is ok for some veggies but not others.

Cooking Boosts Vegetable Antioxidants

The way you prepare and cook vegetables can influence the amount of antioxidants available to you at mealtime. The healthiest methods overall appear to be microwaving and “griddling” or cooking veggies on a flat metal surface without any oil.

Spanish researchers looked into how different cooking methods affect antioxidant content by analyzing the nutrient value of 20 different vegetables after boiling, pressure-cooking, baking, microwaving, griddling and frying. Results of the study published in the April 2009 Journal of Food Science showed that the greatest antioxidant losses occurred in cauliflower after boiling and microwaving, in peas after boiling and in zucchini after boiling or frying. Antioxidant levels remained high in green beans, beets and garlic after most cooking methods and they actually increased in celery, carrots and green beans after cooking, no matter what method was used (although no increase was seen in green beans after boiling). Artichokes were the only vegetable that maintained antioxidant content no matter what cooking method was used. Given all methods tested, the greatest antioxidant losses stemmed from boiling and pressure-cooking.

from Dr. Weil.com

Not Enough Vitamin A and C May Increase Asthma Risk
British researchers recently reviewed 40 studies and concluded that individuals with asthma apparently don’t get enough of either vitamin A or vitamin C. This doesn’t mean that low levels of the two vitamins cause asthma. Instead, from their analysis of the pooled results of studies conducted between 1980 and 2007, University of Nottingham researchers reported that there’s a consistent association between the risk of asthma and low levels of vitamin C and, to a lesser extent, low levels of vitamin A. This contradicts findings from a study published last year that found no association between antioxidant vitamins and asthma risk. The Nottingham investigators found that people with severe asthma had levels of vitamin C reflecting only about half the recommended daily intake and that low circulating levels of “C” in the blood and low dietary intake of foods providing vitamin C were associated with a 12 percent increased risk of asthma. As for vitamin A, the average intake among asthma patients was 182 micrograms per day, less than a third of the recommended daily intake.

Low GI Breakfast Helps Burn Fat
Want to get more out of your workout? You could try eating a breakfast of foods that rank low on the glycemic index (GI), a measurement of how easily the body converts carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar). Foods with a low GI ranking aren’t quickly metabolized to glucose. British researchers tested the effects of low vs. high glycemic index breakfasts in a small group (only eight) of sedentary young women in order to gauge the effect the meals had on fat oxidation during exercise. The low GI meal consisted of muesli, skim milk, apple juice, an apple, canned peaches and yogurt. The high GI breakfast included corn flakes, white bread, jam, skim milk, margarine and a carbonated glucose drink. Three hours after breakfast the women spent 60 minutes walking on a treadmill. After the low GI breakfast, they burned 55 percent more fat than they did after the high GI breakfast. Because this study was so small, more research is needed to confirm its findings. Results were published online in the March 25, Journal of Nutrition.

My sis-in-law just mentioned that i haven't been posting about classes - or well, anything! Classes are great, it's just that there's too many of them this semester. 3 classes at TC and 1 online, plus working is just driving me nuts. But this is really the last semester that will be like this, so i am starting to see the light. In fact, after the 2 papers i'm working on right now, 2 of my classes will require significantly less work...so that's good.

Currently i'm stressing over finding out about admission to the dietetic internship for next year. After April 20th i will feel much better (or worse, but we're not even considering that possibility...aaghh)

Anyway, for the record, my classes this semester are:

Seminar in Nutrition Education - a culminating class, each student leads one session. I did mine on adolescent nutrition, now i just have to finish writing up my 10pg lit. review.

Nutrition Counseling - really love this one, nutrition counseling is more than just telling people what to eat, brings in a lot of psychology - my original love.

Social Policy and Prevention - an elective in the health edu. dept. Good class, lots of discussion on current issues in health care, but too much reading/work for an elective!

Microbiology - partly online. I have my exams scheduled at the proctoring center at Hunter College: May 7, 22 and June 12. Yes, i know that last one is the day before Springfest but there was nothing I could do about it. Now i just have to make sure i can have all the reading/studying done before then. Too bad Springfest is at a dry site because I will really be ready to celebrate at that point!

...here's why:

I just placed an order online. Recently I realized my wardrobe has almost no professional-looking items (suit/blazers, etc). All Isaac Mizrahi stuff is on clearance (this is the best quality line Target has, and sadly i think it's being discontinued). There's a limited selection of colors and styles, but all sizes are available. If i end up keeping everything, I will be getting:

- black blazer
- Suit: jacket with matching pants AND skirt
- spring vintagey-looking coat
- corduroy dress

All for $100.

Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?ref=health

...including Jenny Craig nutrition bars and Keebler crackers.

yipes!: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/us/29peanut.html?ref=health


Yipes again (but for a different reason!): http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html?em

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/health/23scare.html?ref=health

written by one of my favorite food-issue related reporters.