We have always known that a sedentary lifestyle has a negative impact on our health. But I recently read an article in the WSJ which described how sitting for more than three hours a day can decrease a person’s life expectancy by two years. The article went on to describe that this decrease in life expectancy also applies to people who are physically active and follow a healthy lifestyle.     What do you do if you have a sedentary job where you are required to sit at a desk all day long?  In the article, the author stated that when we are sitting, our leg muscles are completely inactive. That wasn’t a big surprise; to me it seemed like an obvious statement. He recommended that people stand as often as possible during the day. However, I have a few additional ideas to activate...

   Last summer I had several photo albums converted to a DVD. It was quite a chore going through the albums from 1978 to 1986, but Wolf Camera was having an unbelievable sale, and I was on a mission to meet the deadline. I went through as many albums as I could, without taking too much extra time to look at the pictures as I organized them. I never even looked at the DVD until last week. Once I started looking, I just couldn’t stop.     I smiled, I laughed, and I cried as I took a stroll down memory lane. The overwhelming theme over those eight years was love, laughter and parties. And no, not necessarily in that order. To those of you who are no longer with us, thank you for the memories, and for the stories that we still tell and that will live in our hearts forever; we love you...

There was a fascinating article recently in the WSJ regarding neural implants, a new technology that could help people with a wide variety of neurological problems including seizures, paralysis, strokes, hearing and vision loss. Neural implants can also help relieve chronic pain as well as phantom pain that many amputees experience. These implants can also help amputees learn how to “feel” their prosthetic limbs and move them more efficiently. This is fantastic news and a huge advancement in the field of neuroscience. The article explains the implants are “attuned to the activity between neurons” and can “listen to your brain activity and then talk directly to your brain”. Again, this is great news, especially for those individuals who are afflicted with...

    When we were teenagers, my sister and I used to sew our own clothes. Actually, we made clothes for the entire family. My sister and I were the seamstresses; our mother did the handwork and the finishing. We were quite a team.     Of course, we each had our strengths, and our specific skills. I was a pretty good little seamstress and fairly accomplished at the Singer. But, for some reason, I was never permitted to sew the zippers into the garments that I was making. Instead, my mother would instruct me to ask my older sister to put the zipper in for me.     It became a tedious ritual. I would reluctantly hand over the garment to my sister and begrudgingly ask her to sew the zipper in place for me. She in turn would sigh, give a long suffering look, and patiently explain to my mother that...

    For someone who had a serious phobia with technology, I’ll admit I’ve come a long way. Two years ago I used to check my email once or twice a week. I didn’t know how to surf the net. I didn’t know what Google was, and was too embarrassed to ask people what they meant when they said, “I Googled it”. I didn’t know what a blog was, or why someone would want one. I learned about Facebook when Betty White hosted SNL. She revealed that she finally learned what Facebook was, and concluded it was a “huge waste of time”. She delivered that little pearl of wisdom while she worked her dimples for the camera. That was good enough for me.     Then slowly, things began to change. Against my better judgement I got a web site. I started checking...

    When I wrote my last post, I told a story about how much I hate flying, and how that changed when I recently flew back East to surprise my niece and nephew. I developed my aversion to flying during 2010, when I kept flying back and forth from Denver to Pittsburgh to help support my parents during the last year of their life as they were battling the end stages of the same disease.     During that time, I was happy to be able to be with them, and give them the help and support they needed. However, each trip took a little bit more out of me as I watched them go through the process of dying. At the Denver airport, I had no idea what awaited me at the other end. At the Pittsburgh airport, I would have major anxiety over leaving them and worry if I had passed on all of the pertinent information...

    I hate to fly. The entire process of going to the airport, going through security, getting on the train, waiting at the gate, and sitting immobilized in those ridiculous seats for hours on end makes me crazy. The overwhelming press of humanity unnerves me. Once you finally land, you get to anxiously wait for your bag to appear at baggage claim and hope that it didn’t inadvertently land in another city. Then you get to repeat the sequence to return home, exhausted and jet lagged.     I suppose wouldn’t mind flying so much if I got to go somewhere fun, or have a relaxing vacation. I haven’t had a vacation in over five years. I’m probably about due for one, or at least the chance to do something fun, spontaneous, and memorable. And then last weekend I did just that....

  My Dad sure could ski. He discovered skiing when he was in his late thirties. He always loved the cold and snow, so dancing on the slopes was a natural fit for him. He taught me and my sisters how to ski when I was nine years old. As a member of the National Ski Patrol, his entire family could ski free. Pretty handy, since he had four kids at the time. Number five was still just a hope, a promise, and a twinkle in his eye.     We went skiing as a family. My Mom hated the cold and the snow as much as my Dad loved it, but my Dad helped her battle the cold by introducing her to hot spiced wine. She would come along, rub our feet and warm our clothes by the huge fireplace by the picture window when we came in for a break. She also had an enormous bag of food for us as well. We occasionally...

    It’s hard to believe that I once was a pretty good seamstress. As a teenager, one of my sisters and I made all of our own clothes. And they were beautiful. Our clothes were not home made, they were hand made. There is a difference. Not only did we make our own clothes, but we made them for the entire family. From play clothes, school clothes, Sunday clothes and formal wear, we made them all. We even made our Mom’s maternity clothes when she was expecting our youngest sister, but that’s another story in itself.       My mother helped us with our sewing. She wasn’t a seamstress, but she was meticulous about the handwork, finishing, and all of the details that would otherwise slow us down. Between the three of us, we had a regular conveyor belt going in our dining...

    When I was a little girl, my favorite book of all times was “The Gateway to Storyland.” It was full of wonderful (and frightening) stories that captured my heart and my imagination. The book was one of the many presents that Santa Claus gave me and my sisters for Christmas when I was two years old. I loved that book. Of course, my favorite story was “The Sugar Plum Tree.” I can still recite that poem by heart, which I think is pretty remarkable, since most of the time I can’t remember what I had for breakfast or if I locked the front door. I still have the book, and it is the most treasured possession that I have from my childhood. I have kept it in a special place in a dresser drawer for years.     A few days ago, I was reminded of the story book when I...