The JackB

"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'." Groucho Marx

Archives for July 2007

Study Links Diet Soft Drinks With Cardiac Risk

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MONDAY, July 23 (HealthDay News) — Drinking more than one soda a day — even if it’s the sugar-free diet kind — is associated with an increased incidence of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors linked to the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease, a study finds.

The link to diet soda found in the study was “striking” but not entirely a surprise, said Dr. Ramachandran Vasan, study senior author and professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. There had been some hints of it in earlier studies, he said.

“But this is the first study to show the association in a prospective fashion and in a large population,” Vasan said.

That population consisted of more than 6,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, which has been following residents of a Massachusetts town since 1948. When the soda portion of the study began, all participants were free of metabolic syndrome, a collection of risk factors including high blood pressure, elevated levels of the blood fats called triglycerides, low levels of the artery-protecting HDL cholesterol, high fasting blood sugar levels and excessive waist circumference. Metabolic syndrome is the presence of three or more of these risk factors.

Over the four years of the study, people who consumed more than one soft drink of any kind a day were 44 percent more likely to develop metabolic syndrome than those who didn’t drink a soda a day.

That sound you hear is the collective groaning of Diet Coke addicts all over the world.

She is a Butterfly

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“Like the purest light in a darkened world
So much hope inside such a lovely girl
You should see her fly, it’s almost magical
It makes you wanna cry, she’s so beautiful”
She’s A Butterfly- Martina McBride (Click to hear the song)

This has become one of my favorite songs to listen to. It reminds me of my daughter. Not just because the lyrics do an excellent job of describing her but because every time she hears it she insists that I dance with her. And that is not something that I can refuse.

My dark haired beauty will turn three tomorrow. So today we gathered family and friends and celebrated. Yes, I survived a birthday party for a three-year-old. Not only that but I survived the shrieking that seems to be part and parcel of little girls playing together. If I had planned more carefully I would have remembered to bring earplugs. Instead I’ll suffer through a temporary case of tinnitus.

Her birthdays are always special to me. Not just because of her but because she was born two days after my father had a triple bypass. In many ways the days leading up to her birth were stressful and frightening. My father was exceptionally ill and the docs were suggesting that it was very likely that he might not make it. I remember the fear and the excitement I felt. If ever there was a time when my life felt like a soap opera that was it.

But now I have this incredible little girl who melts my heart. Long, dark, curls that are sort of like little ringlets dot her head. She loves to climb into my lap and listen to me read her stories and tell me about her day. She hasn’t any clue how much I love these moments. She hasn’t any sense of how much I love to dance with her, to take her in my arms and spin her around.

I know that time will change some of that so I am trying to absorb as much as I can now. I try to suck it all up and savor the moments we get. This special little girl melts me in a different sort of way than her brother.

The other day she asked me if I would be at her wedding. I don’t know what prompted the question, but I do know that for a moment I choked up a bit. I can’t quite imagine what she’ll look like as a grown woman, but I do know that one day some other guy will become her hero and I’ll just be dad. That’s ok, but it is not easy to take.

Fortunately I have many years to go before I have to worry about that, but still….

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- A Simple Review

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****There are no spoilers in this review***

Now that I have completed the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series I have a few thoughts to share. Nothing too sophisticated or profound, just a few thoughts that are percolating inside my skull.

I enjoyed this book. It was pleasurable and I am happy to have read it, but I feel a bit let down. I haven’t decided if that is because I devoured the book, if I am disappointed to see it end or what. I’ll give it a little more time to mull it over and digest what I have read.

This much I can say with certainty. Rowling didn’t catch me with any unusual twists. Nothing happened that surprised me and I was hopeful that something would. But then again some of the things that took place have been building for virtually the entire series so it is hard not to see them coming.

Still the story held my attention. At no time did I feel like I wanted to stop reading or flip ahead and that is worth a lot to me. I can also say that this is a book that I definitely want to read again.

After some more time has passed and more people finish the book I might write something more detailed than this, but for now this will suffice.