MS Maze

In the midst of a 30-inch snowstorm, I felt a mixture of unearned guilt and helplessness. From the kitchen window I peeked out at my husband every so often as he labored in the wintery whiteness.

Glancing around, I observed an elderly neighbor to one side and young children on the other, all tackling the mountains white stuff with a vengeance. Meanwhile, I was warm and dry, but not completely unproductive. I tackled a few chores that needed attention around the house, reminding myself that I, too, was making a contribution. But the question remained… why did he lie to me?

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Lie For Me

photo copyright: WebCamp One LLC

Mary and Jenny, of the blog Writing Without Periods, bestowed upon me the title of this week’s “Sensational Woman.” Thank you, ladies.

Mary and Jenny are multi-published authors and observers of their own crazy lives. Life after 40 is another story!

Since the dawn of time, women have been telling men that size doesn’t matter but, oh, how times have changed. Size does matter, at least when it comes to your benefits package.

These days, as you stroll out into the single scene, you just might want to dangle your group health insurance card as a tantalizing offering to the opposite sex. For maximum appeal, make sure the side with the co-pay amount is clearly visible.

That would be enough to capture the attention, and perhaps the heart, of Terri Carlson, the creator of the website: WillMarryforHealthInsurance.com.

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Size Does Matter

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1097370

On Writing

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet

Does the same hold true for blog post titles? I think not. You can write an absolutely brilliant blog post, but if no one clicks on the title, what’s the point? If you’ve got an eye-catching title, but your post disappoints, you’re no better off.

“Ay, there’s the rub.” – William Shakespeare, from Hamlet

You’ve got to get their attention! You don’t want to get smarmy or cheesy, and you don’t want a title that has nothing whatsoever to do with what you’ve written. That might get you short term spikes in readership, but will hurt your reputation in the long run.

In the world of internet writing, titles are a very important part of the job — no title clicks, no readers. Coming up with just the right title is an art form, one borne of sweat and tears, hits and misses. It… and I… are a work in progress.

Around the Web this Week

“I want politicians to be nice to me… I’m sick,” says a woman with multiple sclerosis. One cannot put it more simply than that. She happens to live in England, but we’ve got the same problem in the states. Medical marijuana is back on the front burner. A Toke a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

“Medical experts have warned that our children are on track to be less healthy than we are.” – First Lady Michelle Obama. We should be ashamed of that fact. Michelle Obama Taking On Childhood Obesity Crisis

It’s not just a man thing. It’s not just an old lady thing. It is the number one killer of women. National Wear Red Day: A Wake Up Call to Women

Since the dawn of time, women have been telling men that size doesn’t matter but, oh, how times have changed. Size does matter, at least when it comes to your benefits package. These days, as you stroll out into the single scene, you just might want to dangle your group health insurance card as a tantalizing offering to the opposite sex. For maximum appeal, make sure the side with the co-pay amount is clearly visible, because Size Does Matter.

Read More
Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS
Care2 Reform Health Policy

Connect: Facebook – LinkedIn – Twitter

Contact: writer@webcampone.com

WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

It’s not just a man thing. It’s not just an old lady thing. It’s the number one killer of women.

Red is a bold color, used in this instance to serve as a wake up call to women, particularly young women.

Friday, February 5 is National Wear Red Day, part of the Go Red For Women campaign that seeks to wipe out heart disease — the number one killer of women, and encourages women to take heart disease personally.

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National Wear Red Day: A Wake Up Call to Women

Photo credit: istockphoto/Justin Horrocks 12-30-09 ©

“Medical experts have warned that our children are on track to be less healthy than we are.” – First Lady Michelle Obama

We should be ashamed of that fact.

Michelle Obama is leading the charge against childhood obesity. We’ve already seen her tending the White House vegetable garden and encouraging children to participate in the growing process. Now she’s taking that enthusiasm to a whole new level, with a national campaign.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 12.4 percent of 2-5 year olds are obese; for 6-11 year-olds it’s 17.0 percent; and for the 12-19 year-old crowd, it’s 17.6 percent.

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Michelle Obama Taking On Childhood Obesity Crisis

Photo: WhiteHouse.gov

Alone in her Birmingham, England home, a woman stirs a half teaspoon of cannabis into her hot tea. By seeking relief from pain and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis in this way she is, in the eyes of the law, a criminal.

She doesn’t take this action lightly and is not out for a recreational high. She simply wants a reprieve from the relentless pain that plagues her and, after sipping her tea, generally experiences about three hours of relief. Only those who live in chronic pain can fully understand her anguish.

Speaking of her predicament she says, “I want politicians to be nice to me… I’m sick.” One cannot put it more simply than that.

Read this post in its entirety:

A Toke a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

What manner of horror is lurking on your toilet seat?

You might think you are doing your family a favor when you scrub the seat with strong cleansers that are made with harsh chemicals. You are killing germs, right? Yes, but you are also putting those harsh chemicals against very sensitive skin. Think about it.

Let’s go one step further. Look beyond the cleaners you use for the toilet seat and take a peek under the kitchen sink, in the utility closet, or the basement. How many cleaning products do you have… made with how many different potentially toxic chemicals? Have you read the ingredients? Your home, and the products you use to keep it clean and seemingly fresh could actually be making you sick.

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What is Lurking on Your Toilet Seat… And Beyond

Photo: CC BY 2.0 Creative Commons Flicker Photos/lonelycamera

On Writing

The writing world bids a fond farewell to author J.D. Salinger, who died on January 28 at the age of 91. Not a fan of the spotlight, he lived most of his life in seclusion, but will be forever revered for his 1951 classic novel “The Catcher in the Rye.”

“Life can’t ever really defeat a writer who is in love with writing, for life itself is a writer’s lover until death — fascinating, cruel, lavish, warm, cold, treacherous, constant.” ~Edna Ferber, A Kind of Magic, 1963

Around the Web this Week

From my wonderful and talented husband comes this brief but brilliant post: Heading for Third

If you’ve just recently been diagnosed with MS, waste no time in putting yourself in the driver’s seat: Multiple Sclerosis for Newbies

It is never a convenient time for a multiple sclerosis relapse, but unless you are willing to call it a day and give up, you’ve got do all you can to stay in the game. Fashionable Canes on the Front Lines

Do pharmaceutical gifts to doctors improve patient care… or is the relationship just a bit too cozy for comfort? States Cracking Down on Big Pharma Gifts to Docs

The scam artists are at it again… before you fork over your hard-earned dollars to help the victims of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, make sure you’re not about to play the fool. Haiti Earthquake Relief: Is it a Scam?

What is Lurking on your Toilet Seat… and Beyond? Certain types of toilet seats, and how you clean them, could be making you sick… really!

On Women on the Verge: Life with Chronic Illness: Who to tell… when… and how much

New Site in Town

Everyone dreams. Crossing the boundaries of nations, cultures, age, gender, race, class, and religious affiliation, dreaming is a fundamental human experience — and yet we know relatively little about it! As dreaming is an experience that is so easy to relate to, a dream archive not only provides entertainment, but also becomes endlessly valuable to the studies of sociology, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. ButIWasDreaming.com, the brainchild of an enterprising young grad student, is in its infancy, but as it grows will act as a global archive for dreams.

Read More
Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS
Care2 Reform Health Policy

Connect: Facebook – LinkedIn – Twitter

Contact: writer@webcampone.com

WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

ST6KDA4BXTHH

The scam artists are at it again… before you fork over your hard-earned dollars to help the victims of the tragic earthquake in Haiti, make sure you’re not about to play the fool.

The World Trade Center attacks, the Asian tsunami, and hurricane Katrina all spawned countless scams designed to trick kind-hearted people into parting with their money, and Haiti’s devastation serves their purposes very well.

Please give, but don’t let your sincere desire to help people in need get in the way of common sense

Read this post in its entirety:

Haiti Earthquake Relief: Is it a Scam?

Photo: CC BY 2.0 Creative Commons Flicker Photos/oneras

Do pharmaceutical gifts to doctors improve patient care… or is the relationship just a bit too cozy for comfort? Are they helping doctors to gain important information about available prescription medications, or attempting to influence them into prescribing high-cost drugs for the wrong reasons?

Almost two-thirds of Americans currently use medicines, 49 percent of those being prescription drugs and 30 percent over-the-counter, and 32 million Americans take three or more medications daily.

With billions of dollars at stake every year, pharmaceutical companies, physicians, and state legislators have differing views… as do patients.

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States Cracking Down on Big Pharma Gifts to Docs

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/755991

When you first learn that you have multiple sclerosis, you will likely experience a range of emotion from relief to fear. Then come the questions.

One of the first might be “What is my prognosis — what is a typical case of MS like?” The hard answer is that prognosis is all but impossible, but along with that uncertainty comes hope. Undoubtedly, you will hear horror stories about MS as well as uplifting stories about people living strong, healthy lives. The fact is, life with MS is unpredictable. That’s about all one can predict about it.

The trick is…

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Multiple Sclerosis for Newbies

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1008265

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, state and local government, public accommodations, commercial facilities, transportation, and telecommunications.

Under the ADA, a person with a disability is defined as one who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. If you believe you meet that criteria, it is important to familiarize yourself with the ADA and understand your rights under the law.

What follows is a brief description of some these important protections as well as links for further information and support should you need assistance…

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Guide to Rights under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/871694

What does freelance writing have to do with professional wrestling? At first glance, it would seem like an odd comparison. The truth is, someone very close to me is working toward a career in professional wrestling, and I have often noted the similarities between his career goals and mine.

We are both working toward a long shot dream, one with no clear path to success and where the meaning of success is in the eye of the beholder, a dream that sees more failures than successes and makes people wonder just what the heck is wrong with you. We are both focused and determined (read that as stubborn) and are progressing nicely.

In my daily visit to FreelanceWritingGigs.com, I recently came across an article titled 6 Things Freelance Writers Can Learn from Professional Wrestlers. You can only imagine my surprise and delight that someone else had the same train of thought, but writer Jodee Redmond took the concept much further than that. Take a look at her article and, like me, you’ll find you can learn a thing or two from professional wrestlers.

Weekly Roundup:

Recently, I quite tentatively posted brief snippets about my latest MS relapse on Facebook and Twitter. The somewhat surprising results became the basis for this article: Sharing a Life Altered by Multiple Sclerosis

They are the most vulnerable among us, completely dependent on us for care, safety, and food. They are our infants and young children and we owe them at least that much. If there is valid concern over the safety of their food supply, it is incumbent upon us to act in their best interests. Protect our Young: Get BPA Out of the Food Supply

If health care reform dies, don’t blame it on Massachusetts: It is NOT GUILTY of Killing Health Care Reform

If you are disabled, it is important that you understand your rights under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) Guide to Rights under Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

Women on the Verge ran a previously published book review: Building a Home with My Husband

New Site in Town:

Everyone dreams. Crossing the boundaries of nations, cultures, age, gender, race, class, and religious affiliation, dreaming is a fundamental human experience — and yet we know relatively little about it! As dreaming is an experience that is so easy to relate to, a dream archive not only provides entertainment, but also becomes endlessly valuable to the studies of sociology, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology. ButIWasDreaming.com, the brainchild of an enterprising young grad student, is in its infancy, but as it grows will act as a global archive for dreams.

Read more:

Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS

Care2 Reform Health Policy

Connect: Facebook – LinkedIn – Twitter

Contact: writer@webcampone.com

WebCamp One, LLC: Full-service website design, management, and development company with clients throughout the USA and Canada. Expert in standards compliant website design. From website management to freelance writing, we’ve got the web covered. Visit: WebCamp One on Facebook.

AnnPietrangelo.com

If health care reform dies, don’t blame it on Massachusetts.

For the anti-reform crowd to point to this election as evidence that voters don’t want health care reform is ludicrous. Everybody will look for a scapegoat, but should health care reform die, there is more than enough blame to go around without pinning it on a single seat in a single election in a single state. It is obvious that if any health care reform passes, it will be a far cry from the comprehensive overhaul that we need. For that, blame it on…

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Massachusetts Not Guilty of Killing Health Care Reform

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/952313