Super Size Me

Just watched Supersize Me, and I am never eating McDonalds again! (prob no fast food unless its Subway or something!) Although the movie is drawn out, this guy could've made his point long before the end, it was quite distressing to watch. A healthy male go down the tubes in as little as 3 weeks! I mean 25 lb weight gain in three weeks?? It was an interesting experiment. The fact that most sticks into my mind, and has kept me away from Mcdonalds for two days now (almost a record for me!) is the statement made by the author of "Fast Food Nation" Eric Schlosser was that one hamburger pattie from McDonalds, contains peices of over 1000 cattle!! WHAT??? No Thanks. If you have time and the interest, I highly reccomend you see Supersize Me for yourself. Draw your own conclusions.

I think I am switching!

After a couple of weeks using Gmail I think I am close to making it my primary address. I didn't quite get the privacy issues people are talking about, afterall when I log into my Yahoo account there is some kind of blurb at the bottom that says they collect personal data. But to me personal data is where I live, where I work, who I am. Not the subjects of my emails to provide me with relevent advertising. Besides Gmail is probably the best email client for advertising, you hardly even notice it over there sitting quietly to the right. Unlike some other web emails I have used. I do not miss those huge color photos, or little flash movies hogging up my mail load time. I have even clicked on a few of the ads, because they were relavent to something that interests me. The only dissapointment I have so far is that I cannot use my Gmail with Incredimail. (a free email program that lets you make email more fun in my opinion by adding graphics fonts etc.) Google says this is coming, maybe after the release of Gmail, or maybe for a fee :( which would make Gmail suck a little I think. As for now I am pleased with it. I love never having to throw anything away. No more little notepad documents saved here and there with links I want to look at later. Right now I am using it for a web group I belong to, it is sooooo usefull for that since everything is grouped into conversations. What used to be 25 emails on the same subject I have to open individually (and deal with obtrusive advertising with each one!) is now one email with one set of ads. Just think of the time you are saving by just getting one mail instead of 25? My group email which was easily 75 messages a day has turned into about 10-15!! I love that!

Flu Shot Shortage

I am so sick and tired of hearing about the flu shot shortage. The media once again is attempting to use the scare tactic to keep the veiwers eyes turned onto the news. Its always something, how long ago was SARS the big deal? Or West Nile Virus? As a nurse, I have taken a flu shot only once in the last five years of being in nursing with direct patient care. I get the flu every year, even the year I took a flu shot. The diffrence was usually it drags me down for a week. The year I took the flu shot, it was two weeks. Lets face the facts here. It really isn't all that effective anyway. "Of the 1,000 people who got the vaccine before November 1, 149 went on to develop influenza-like illness (14.9 percent). Of the 402 people who did not get the vaccine, 68 got an influenza-like illness (16.9 percent), the study said." (from CNN.com) 2% is not that great of difference. Of course the drug companies say you need it. Last year our facility purchased flu vaccination for $250 per vial. This year it paid $900 per vial! Price hike of course "due to the shortage". I am having trouble recalling the exact numbers, but in a conversation with our county health nurse, I beleive she told me that 14 strains of the flu virus are covered in the vaccine. The vaccine is developed more than 9 months before the flu season (peaks in Jan and March) so there is no way of knowing which strain will affect us, and there are over 100 known strains of the virus! Do not take me wrong here, studies have shown the vaccine to be effective in children and the elderly in preventing hospitalization for flu related illness. To explain this better-sometimes the flu will produce say, a productive phlegm filled cough, that leads to say bronchitis or a pneumonia. (This is what kills people, not the flu!) Of course, do not take my opinions as fact, always consult your docter when dealing with your health, I am not a doctor! I am just simply pointing out that the media loves to scare us into beleiving things are far worse then they are!

Halloween on a Sunday

I don't consider myself evil, but to have complaints that Halloween falls on a Sunday? Isn't that a little ridiculous? "I'm a church-going person, so I think it should be held on another night than Sunday night," said Scott Luff of Lewisporte. Oh so you are a church going person, so everyone else is to? Religious freedoms do not only extend to christian religions! Halloween, though linked to pagen traditions in history, is in my opinion a harmless event. Why do people have no religious tolerance for others religion? I just don't get it. Although this article deals with other countries, I have heard there is an uproar here in the US also. No one says you have to let your children participate, or you have to answer the door for trick or treaters. To each is his own!

Gmail

Well as always the first to be last, I finally got an invitation to Gmail. I have just finished setting up my account and have not quite decided what I think about it. This invitation only thing is a little silly. But hey it works right-you want what you can't have! Before long all internet users will have Gmail, just by being invited. Slowly but surely this will be internet mail takeover. What a slick way to make your email service more popular then hotmail or yahoo.

Insominia-my best friend.

Why can't I be normal and sleep at night? Is it the peacefullness that drapes over my world at night when everyone else is still? Maybe. But as a long time night shifter, I should know better. Thats why I now work second. But nights is in my blood. I still find myself up at 7am trying to figure out why normal people sleep at dark and I cannot. Night shift has been linked to chronic stress,heart prob., breast cancer (I heard somewhere once), weight gain and yet I still cannot sleep. I lay awake puffing Marlbros until the wee hours of the morning. Maybe one of these days I will roll out of bed at 7am instead of 7pm and can classify myself normal.