MS Maze

Are you having trouble losing weight? Do you have a drinking problem? If you are drinking soda on a daily basis, the answer to both questions is probably yes.

Last year the New York City health department released a rather disgusting video showing a man drinking great globs of fat from a soft drink can. The point? Consuming sugary soft drinks every day adds hundreds of calories, packs on pounds, and leads to a host of health problems, including diabetes and heart disease.

Read this post in its entirety and watch the video:

Can’t Lose Weight? Soda’s Dirty Little Secret

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

You have multiple sclerosis and I have multiple sclerosis, but I have not walked in your shoes. People with MS do not think or act more alike than any other segment of the population. We are a diverse and complex group of individuals and despite all we have in common, our experiences with MS are uniquely our own.

One thing we do all have in common is the need to make decisions. How and why we arrive at these decisions is complicated and personal. Our particular symptoms, age, other medical conditions, family, medical advice, financial status — and yes, our health care coverage — are just a few of the issues we each have to take into consideration.

Read this post in its entirety:

MS = Multiple Sclerosis + Mutual Support

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1029084

How about a large cola and a side order of fecal matter? I hate to spoil your appetite, but you might want to think twice about using those self-serve soda fountains.

Research from Hollins University in Roanoke, VA indicates that the plastic tubing inside the soda machines may be a breeding ground for fecal bacteria.

Testing 90 beverages from 20 self-service and 10 employee-dispensed soda fountains in assorted fast food restaurants, the research team evaluated the results with respect to U.S. drinking water regulations. The drinks were analyzed for microbial contamination and coliform/fecal bacterium was detected in 48 percent of them, but only 20 percent of those exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limits for drinking water. E. coli was present in 11 percent of the drinks tested.

Read this post in its entirety:

Self-Serve Soda Fountains: Serving up Fecal Bacteria

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/143580

“If you do something great and don’t create a record of what you did, did you really do it? As far as the web is concerned, you didn’t, and the web is becoming the global memory. So you’ve got to get it down – get it recorded.” — Gerry McGovern, Killer Web Content.

A solid piece of advice, one that I have taken to heart — hence the blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and all manner of social media into which I’ve become emerged in the last couple of years. I spent most of my 50 years on the planet as a very private, somewhat shy person. So much so that when I first began writing in a public forum I hid behind a pseudonym, but found that to be awkward in social networking.

The problem here is that the global memory doesn’t only record what you throw out into it, but whatever anyone throws out there. If it is a commentary about you, whether true or not, it also becomes part of the record. In the end the online world is much like life itself — full of truths, half-truths, and falsehoods. Some things stick, some don’t, but if writing is what you do — who you are — then you just have to keep on writing and working on that record.

I am humbled and elated to have been accepted into The Author’s Guild. May it serve as inspiration to complete my memoir and live up to the standards of such an amazing and creative group.

Writing around the web this week:

Odd Jobs and Life Lessons

2009: Year of Research Breakthroughs in Multiple Sclerosis

Mike Coffman’s Excellent Adventure: U.S. Health Care System Works!

Self-Serve Soda Fountains: Serving up Fecal Bacteria

Democrats Going it Alone on Health Care Reform

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.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com

After receiving treatment for an ankle injury, Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman told The Denver Post, “I successfully tested our health care system,” he said, with a laugh. “It works.”

Whether it was a pathetic attempt at humor or just plain insensitivity, access to affordable health care is no laughing matter to tens of millions of Americans who are either underinsured, or have no health insurance at all. So the system “works.” Nice to know. Now how about letting the rest of us in on it?

The Republican Congressman, who voted against the health care reform bill passed by the House, is covered by the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan…

Read this post in its entirety:

Mike Coffman’s Excellent Adventure: U.S. Health Care System Works!

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/124837

Congressional Republicans are not in favor of health care reform. Period.

They do not now, nor have they ever intended to participate in serious negotiations about this issue that so deeply affects virtually every American. The tactic was always to stall… stall… stall… and to spread untruths and fear among a confused and weary public. Passing no reform was and is the goal.

Democrats have finally awakened to the fact that there is no negotiating with Republicans on this issue and are preparing to carry on without them, sparing us the spectacle of delay tactics and fear of filibuster by skipping the  formal conference committee process on health care. It took awhile, but it appears the Democrats are saying “if you’re not going to help, then get out of the way.”

Rachel Maddow’s take on the subject:

Read this post in its entirety:

Democrats Finally Get It: Going it Alone on Health Care Reform

Isolating the cause of MS is the first step toward more effective treatments and, eventually, a cure for this debilitating condition. The good news is that research is ongoing on multiple fronts and the last decade has seen major progress in treatment of relapsing/remitting MS, as well as treatment of symptoms.

2009 was quite a year — promising research on several fronts offer people with MS cause for great hope. Finding the cause means better treatments… and possibly the long-sought cure. 2010 is beginning on a positive note.

Read this post in its entirety:

2009: Year of Research Breakthroughs in Multiple Sclerosis

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/436905

Greetings to 2010 and a happy new year to all.

The first thrill I ever felt as a writer was in the early 80’s. Mom was turning 50 years old and, in honor of her birthday, I wrote a verse straight from the heart. Signed and framed, I presented it as her birthday gift. In true Mom form, she gushed appreciatively.

I showed the verse to some of my office pals and they liked it so much that several of them asked it they could use it for their own mothers. Flattered, I happily distributed my little work, going so far as to tweak the others to make them more personal.

Looking back on it now, I don’t think it was a particularly good poem. I really haven’t a clue how to properly write poetry. But my words were powerful enough to touch not only my own mother, but co-workers as well. That was the thrill of it all.

When I was in my early twenties, I loved playing with words and writing letters to friends and family, but saw no future in it. Now I am 50 years old, and have been an active freelance writer for three years. It took decades for the writer in me to bubble up to the surface, but she is part of me now. Back at Mom’s place, that framed verse still occupies a space on her bedroom dresser, and it still gives me a bit of a thrill.

Writing around the web lately:

Life with Chronic Illness: Who to Tell, When, and How Much

10 Tips for Managing Daily Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Senate Bill by Christmas but No Health Care Reform in 2009

How to Stay Informed about Health Care Policy and Reform

Health Care Reform: Redux Ad Nauseam

Health Care Reform in 2010: 50 States, 50 Battlegrounds

Reminder — CDC Warns: Don’t Fall for this H1N1 Scam!

Read more:

Care2 Healthy & Green Living with MS

Care2 Reform Health Policy

Connect: Facebook – LinkedIn – Twitter

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.

Visit: AnnPietrangelo.com Contact: writer@webcampone.com

The final version of the Senate bill, with all its concessions and deals, came together the way it did because of strategy from a few key states — key states only because their Senators levied the power of their must-have votes to tweak the legislation to their own specifications. There is no reason to believe that the same won’t hold true as the House and Senate bills are merged.

Individual states are already sending signals to Congress about their opposition to the Senate bill.

Read this post in its entirety:

Health Care Reform in 2010: 50 States, 50 Battlegrounds

Photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1034847