is big, bites, pinch-scratches, pulls hair and is all around the toughest little 18 month old ever. I guess that is what happens when you have a 12 year old brother who picks on you all the time.
Actually that just may be an excuse. I think this one was just born tough.
however when it is time to go to nurse (I am a hippie) he is so funny. As soon as he knows he gets to nurse, he starts to giggle, smile, latches on, then rolls his eyes back in his head and wiggles in happiness.
Nursing must be some sort of addictive dopamine flood. It's like the kid is taking a hit, or drag on a cigarette.
We are going to look into a "patch" pretty soon for the little addict.
Friday, September 12, 2008
buying a home
So I finally decided to take a plunge into home ownership.
Right now, since me and the ex are still technicall wedded, I can buy a house only using my income but have to show his debts as part of my debt to income ratio.
He has a lot of debt.
I cashed out my stock awards for downpayment and closing costs, but this still puts me in a delicate situation without the required down payment. I found a mortgage broker who will help, however we are riding the "funny money" mortgage debacle coat-tails right up until it becomes illegal on Oct 1st.
We are getting "downpayment assistance" from the seller which will become illegal on Oct 1st. This means they "give" me $5000 which actually gets added into the cost of the mortgage.
I am a little confused as to why this is becoming illegal. Most folks can swing a mortgage that is close to the current rent payment. For me I pay 1100 in rent or it looks like about 1076 in mortgage for the condo. My credit is excellent and I make plenty of money. I just lack 5% plus closing fees-ie 12 grand or so in cash.
I think the down payment assistance is just an easy target to blame. In reality the ARM mortgages are the real problem. There is no good reason folks in a state like Texas need a crazy ARM mortgage unless they are flipping houses. Mortgage brokers just found easy targets amoung the poor and uneducated (aka financially stuid). The ARMs are the reason for the high default rates.
Also I read somewhere that 75% of first time home buyers who show up with a significant downpayment got it as a gift from family. Not everyone has mom and dad to fall back on.
Right now, since me and the ex are still technicall wedded, I can buy a house only using my income but have to show his debts as part of my debt to income ratio.
He has a lot of debt.
I cashed out my stock awards for downpayment and closing costs, but this still puts me in a delicate situation without the required down payment. I found a mortgage broker who will help, however we are riding the "funny money" mortgage debacle coat-tails right up until it becomes illegal on Oct 1st.
We are getting "downpayment assistance" from the seller which will become illegal on Oct 1st. This means they "give" me $5000 which actually gets added into the cost of the mortgage.
I am a little confused as to why this is becoming illegal. Most folks can swing a mortgage that is close to the current rent payment. For me I pay 1100 in rent or it looks like about 1076 in mortgage for the condo. My credit is excellent and I make plenty of money. I just lack 5% plus closing fees-ie 12 grand or so in cash.
I think the down payment assistance is just an easy target to blame. In reality the ARM mortgages are the real problem. There is no good reason folks in a state like Texas need a crazy ARM mortgage unless they are flipping houses. Mortgage brokers just found easy targets amoung the poor and uneducated (aka financially stuid). The ARMs are the reason for the high default rates.
Also I read somewhere that 75% of first time home buyers who show up with a significant downpayment got it as a gift from family. Not everyone has mom and dad to fall back on.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
europeans drink less water than americans
ADH + CRH = ACTH (see vasopression and cortisol regulation)
ACTH = cortisol
low ADH or low CRH leads to low cortisol
CRH essential for crisis response-death of Ccentral adrenal insufficieny during crisis.
ADH coregulates daily secretion of cortisol? coregulation proven but details uncertain.
High (Na)= low ADH. Low (Na)= high ADH
Florinef= High (Na), low ADH
supplement with florinef and cortisol= low ACTH, low CRH, low ADH.
Stop cortisol. higher CRH, but High (Na) due to florinef leaves low ADH.
thus low ACTH and low cortisol. expect lots of irregularity in cortisol secretion, spikes and valleys. BP variations from 120/90 to 70/40 from AM to PM. Delerium and lack of peripheral circulation in PM.
Stop florinef, (Na) drops, ADH spikes, cortisol spikes. symptoms go away.
every visit i have made to europe makes me wonder about those folks. they drink very little compared to us and seem to make less trips to the potty. how do they stay hydrated?
i wonder what the daily urine output of somebody with CFS is?
ACTH = cortisol
low ADH or low CRH leads to low cortisol
CRH essential for crisis response-death of Ccentral adrenal insufficieny during crisis.
ADH coregulates daily secretion of cortisol? coregulation proven but details uncertain.
High (Na)= low ADH. Low (Na)= high ADH
Florinef= High (Na), low ADH
supplement with florinef and cortisol= low ACTH, low CRH, low ADH.
Stop cortisol. higher CRH, but High (Na) due to florinef leaves low ADH.
thus low ACTH and low cortisol. expect lots of irregularity in cortisol secretion, spikes and valleys. BP variations from 120/90 to 70/40 from AM to PM. Delerium and lack of peripheral circulation in PM.
Stop florinef, (Na) drops, ADH spikes, cortisol spikes. symptoms go away.
every visit i have made to europe makes me wonder about those folks. they drink very little compared to us and seem to make less trips to the potty. how do they stay hydrated?
i wonder what the daily urine output of somebody with CFS is?
well if she had only...
well if she had only...
-wore her seat belt
-hadn't been drinking
-had work a helmet
-had been more careful about car maintenance
-he was really overweight and didnt work out
It's a shame but...
-he had a mental problem
-They were "those" sort of people, you can't expect much more out of them
-he was really white trash
-he had it coming
-you know how (fill in your favorite racial slur) are
All Fs feel empathy. All humans actually have some inkling. However when we see another in pain we often build defense barriers to allow us to dismiss thier pain. It is almost second nature and hapens by default.
Two ways:
1) they deserved thier pain/death or some how caused it
2) they are not part of our "tribe" thus thier suffering is irrelevant.
God bless the USA, but we forgot about the rest of the world. or those folks on the east side of towm. or the black people or the mexican immigrants.
Oh a guy got hit and killed, sad but he was just an illegal... they are everywhere nowdays.
Another I have seen medical professionals guilty of:
When they cannot solve the problem or cannot find data to support the symptoms in test results, then there is not a problem. Ignoring the fact that they have limited biomarkers available and an exceptionally poor understanding of pharmacogenomics and individual varients of complex disorders.
How do they avoid having to feel empathy?
-she has a mental problem
-she's neurotic
-she's seeking attention
-it's psychosomatic (which has been redefined as of late funnily enough)
-it's all in thier head
-they are lazy and looking for attention
-everything becomes depression (gushing blood? your just depressed. eyeball pop out? depression.)
There are several "syndromes" where the docs really have poor answers yet are willing to apply all of the above answers -CFS, fibromyalgia, IBS, yet many docs are profoundly dismissive.
Of course all these folks are just seeking attention. All 10 million. Lots o' lonely folks in the world who propebely deserve it eh?
And they tell themselves when they walk in the room to allow themselves not to feel guilt and pain that they cannot fix the problem.
-wore her seat belt
-hadn't been drinking
-had work a helmet
-had been more careful about car maintenance
-he was really overweight and didnt work out
It's a shame but...
-he had a mental problem
-They were "those" sort of people, you can't expect much more out of them
-he was really white trash
-he had it coming
-you know how (fill in your favorite racial slur) are
All Fs feel empathy. All humans actually have some inkling. However when we see another in pain we often build defense barriers to allow us to dismiss thier pain. It is almost second nature and hapens by default.
Two ways:
1) they deserved thier pain/death or some how caused it
2) they are not part of our "tribe" thus thier suffering is irrelevant.
God bless the USA, but we forgot about the rest of the world. or those folks on the east side of towm. or the black people or the mexican immigrants.
Oh a guy got hit and killed, sad but he was just an illegal... they are everywhere nowdays.
Another I have seen medical professionals guilty of:
When they cannot solve the problem or cannot find data to support the symptoms in test results, then there is not a problem. Ignoring the fact that they have limited biomarkers available and an exceptionally poor understanding of pharmacogenomics and individual varients of complex disorders.
How do they avoid having to feel empathy?
-she has a mental problem
-she's neurotic
-she's seeking attention
-it's psychosomatic (which has been redefined as of late funnily enough)
-it's all in thier head
-they are lazy and looking for attention
-everything becomes depression (gushing blood? your just depressed. eyeball pop out? depression.)
There are several "syndromes" where the docs really have poor answers yet are willing to apply all of the above answers -CFS, fibromyalgia, IBS, yet many docs are profoundly dismissive.
Of course all these folks are just seeking attention. All 10 million. Lots o' lonely folks in the world who propebely deserve it eh?
And they tell themselves when they walk in the room to allow themselves not to feel guilt and pain that they cannot fix the problem.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Gluten and the bullshit alternative docs
My pal went to an alt med practitioner after years off having IBS type stomach problems. She jumped through all the hoops, did all the tests and never had an answer. She also had five first trimenter miscarriges and no live births.
So she goes to this alt med guy, pays about $500 for visit and tests and he tells her she has a gluten-casien allergy. I thought what utter bullshit-I am a biochemist- but I didn't want to argue with her as what else was she supposed to do? So she stops eating gluten and cow milk.
And all her stomach problems went away. Then she would eat some, and they'd some back. That was about 2 years ago and symptoms still turn on and off just by avoiding the gluten and casien.
She also carried her first baby to term.
Maybe it is just luck, but given that first trimester miscarriges and food allergies are immune system issues, makes you wonder.
So about a month back my gall bladder, stomach, and duedenum were all torn up again-I have been checked for stones four times, so I though what the hell. I committed to a seven day gluten free diet. By day three the stomach inflammation and dueodenal pain was gone, and the gall bladder was done to the occasional sputter. Now if I eat Gluten, the inflammation will come back for the next day or so, then go away agin. It is hard to resist as I LOVE bread but I am enough Pavlov's dog that the bread is starting to look less yummy.
So she goes to this alt med guy, pays about $500 for visit and tests and he tells her she has a gluten-casien allergy. I thought what utter bullshit-I am a biochemist- but I didn't want to argue with her as what else was she supposed to do? So she stops eating gluten and cow milk.
And all her stomach problems went away. Then she would eat some, and they'd some back. That was about 2 years ago and symptoms still turn on and off just by avoiding the gluten and casien.
She also carried her first baby to term.
Maybe it is just luck, but given that first trimester miscarriges and food allergies are immune system issues, makes you wonder.
So about a month back my gall bladder, stomach, and duedenum were all torn up again-I have been checked for stones four times, so I though what the hell. I committed to a seven day gluten free diet. By day three the stomach inflammation and dueodenal pain was gone, and the gall bladder was done to the occasional sputter. Now if I eat Gluten, the inflammation will come back for the next day or so, then go away agin. It is hard to resist as I LOVE bread but I am enough Pavlov's dog that the bread is starting to look less yummy.
tyrant
Baby is a tyrant
we walked at about 9.5 months. Still nursing at 14 months. He is a loud demanding little fellow, growls and bites, and only cuddles when sleepy. He thinks I am pretty weak and not a particularly good parent, but will have to do...
Alas, I think he will have high standards once he is grown.
He is more organized and structured than my first son ever was. He is doubtful of strangers, ske[ptical of strange things, and will sit and ponder for several minutes at a time. He loves to put lids back on containers. All things must have lids. He takes them off and puts them on.
This morning he pulled out the gallon of milk, took off the lid and dumped it all over the floor.
His face is so expressive. You can see his skepticism in all the tiny, minute movements of his eyes and a touch of pursed lips. Already at 15 months he gets pissed , with spells of indignant fury. How dare you deny him the wire wisk? How could you keep HIM out of the pantry? He cries a few pissed screams, throws his spoon on the floor, and stomps off to the livingroom. God forbid I try and hug or kiss, or even talk to him. Talk about cold glares.
I have to try not to laugh as it is freaking hysterical. He says Mama, dada, papa, eeth (ethan), puppy, and meows at the cats. He likes to hug and kiss all the pets and his brother but then tries to whack them with whatever cooking utensil he happens to be holding. We are also a fan of dropping food after mama told us not to just to see what mama will do.
On another note my older son told me I drop the F-bomb so often I could have completely destroyed america by now.
we walked at about 9.5 months. Still nursing at 14 months. He is a loud demanding little fellow, growls and bites, and only cuddles when sleepy. He thinks I am pretty weak and not a particularly good parent, but will have to do...
Alas, I think he will have high standards once he is grown.
He is more organized and structured than my first son ever was. He is doubtful of strangers, ske[ptical of strange things, and will sit and ponder for several minutes at a time. He loves to put lids back on containers. All things must have lids. He takes them off and puts them on.
This morning he pulled out the gallon of milk, took off the lid and dumped it all over the floor.
His face is so expressive. You can see his skepticism in all the tiny, minute movements of his eyes and a touch of pursed lips. Already at 15 months he gets pissed , with spells of indignant fury. How dare you deny him the wire wisk? How could you keep HIM out of the pantry? He cries a few pissed screams, throws his spoon on the floor, and stomps off to the livingroom. God forbid I try and hug or kiss, or even talk to him. Talk about cold glares.
I have to try not to laugh as it is freaking hysterical. He says Mama, dada, papa, eeth (ethan), puppy, and meows at the cats. He likes to hug and kiss all the pets and his brother but then tries to whack them with whatever cooking utensil he happens to be holding. We are also a fan of dropping food after mama told us not to just to see what mama will do.
On another note my older son told me I drop the F-bomb so often I could have completely destroyed america by now.
what's wrong with society?
Perhaps, turning our country into the nanny state it has become is necessary to save the millions of consumers who are genetically inclined not to care about anyone but themselves. Perhaps we are fighting natural selection by supporting a genetic trait whos weakness requires the support of others to survive. Instead of only the fittest surviving, we are encouraging the consumer traits to thrive with our craddle to grave support. Perhaps we have to. For the sake of compassion. Funding consumers at every turn to survive in a capitalistic land built by producers. Perhaps we don't have a choice. As a compassionate society. If someone is born into producer or consumer status, perhaps we should stop trying so hard to bring turn them into something they are not and accept that they are genetic consumers and we must take care of them for the sake of compassion and fighting the forces of Darwin.
Hi Happy,
I noticed this old post and thought I'd comment up here so it didn;t get lost. What you are seeing is reflected very clearly in MBTI personality types. 40% are SJ, those are your producers, 40% are SP, those are your natural born party gone wild consumers, 10% are NTs-you and all you dr buds, scientists in general, and 10% are NFs-the tree huggers, priests, artists and such.
so what happens is the SJs are engaged in an never ending battle to keep the SPs in line and be a contributing part of society and all the Ns just get stuck in the middle. Just ignore the Ns.
SPs live in the moment, are spontaneous, have very poor long term planning skills and are very impulsive. Coprorate america exploits this on every turn. Marketers love the SPs because they are EASY. They miss all the fine print, the interest rate increases, the late fees, the overdraft fees, the strings attached to any offer. They buy whatever pops into thier dumb little brains as soon as they see it and are the target of the vast majoirty of media communications.
Impulsivity appears to have a strong biological corrolate and when you combine that with someone who is very in touch with sensory information, its a party.
Is it wrong to exploit the biological imperfrections of the stupid SPs? In the past religion and societal pressure kept the guys more in line. Peer pressure can work really well on these guys. But nowdays we speak out of both sides of our mouths. "be a responsbile, contributing member of society" and "dont you want to buy this really cool thing?" which makes our 401Ks grow bigger as the corporate stocks rise due to thier consumerism. We kinda set them up for failure honestly.
I favor graduated adulthood where they have to earn rights to consume, and some level of protection for then from folks who financially prey on them. Did you know in greece no TV commercials are allowed that market to children?
Hi Happy,
I noticed this old post and thought I'd comment up here so it didn;t get lost. What you are seeing is reflected very clearly in MBTI personality types. 40% are SJ, those are your producers, 40% are SP, those are your natural born party gone wild consumers, 10% are NTs-you and all you dr buds, scientists in general, and 10% are NFs-the tree huggers, priests, artists and such.
so what happens is the SJs are engaged in an never ending battle to keep the SPs in line and be a contributing part of society and all the Ns just get stuck in the middle. Just ignore the Ns.
SPs live in the moment, are spontaneous, have very poor long term planning skills and are very impulsive. Coprorate america exploits this on every turn. Marketers love the SPs because they are EASY. They miss all the fine print, the interest rate increases, the late fees, the overdraft fees, the strings attached to any offer. They buy whatever pops into thier dumb little brains as soon as they see it and are the target of the vast majoirty of media communications.
Impulsivity appears to have a strong biological corrolate and when you combine that with someone who is very in touch with sensory information, its a party.
Is it wrong to exploit the biological imperfrections of the stupid SPs? In the past religion and societal pressure kept the guys more in line. Peer pressure can work really well on these guys. But nowdays we speak out of both sides of our mouths. "be a responsbile, contributing member of society" and "dont you want to buy this really cool thing?" which makes our 401Ks grow bigger as the corporate stocks rise due to thier consumerism. We kinda set them up for failure honestly.
I favor graduated adulthood where they have to earn rights to consume, and some level of protection for then from folks who financially prey on them. Did you know in greece no TV commercials are allowed that market to children?
empathy
Empahty is technically sesning the emotions of others. We understand how they feel. Biologically? It is the feeling of emotional pain when we wee a fellow human in pain or discomfort, physical, mental or emotional. What does this look like biological? What set of chemical cascades trickle down? In effect we really are sesning some level of true biological pain by being surrounded by others in pain.
Pain would cause action-ie helping the other so that it does not suffer-the biological, evolutionary basis of empathy as a society depends on having each of us support the other so reciprocally, wehn we need help, the other will support us.
If a true biologically induced sensation, then the empathic person can suffer stress, a biological phenomena, from not being able to alieviate the suffering of the other. High stree can trigger all types of other problems-depression, CFS, fibromyalgia-all thought to be mental but as of late found to have true biological components.
Thus, it follows that highly empathic people are more likely to suffer from stress induced types of illnesses.
Another aspect:
When surrounded by others in pain, to relieve the empathic pain, the empath does something to help the other. If they cannot, not only do they continue to feel the other's pain but also experience guilt at not being able to allieve the other's pain. After years of being surrounded by a society full of suffering the empath is weighed doen by loads of guilt and remorse that don't really have a specific origin. They seek forgiveness for this lack of ability to do anything via religion, self-injury, or sado-masochisitic relationships where they give conrtol to another. That person/god then can "punish" them for their inability to act in the past and then "forgive" them.
The empath oddly enough gets a sens of joy and euphoria when helping others. For them charitible work can also be a source of forgiveness and "action" in aleiviating the other's pain thus stopping the internal pain as well.
Empath personality types: SFJ and NFP. The SFJ will be better off as they can fall back on societal norms as the reson they did not help the other or build up walls that redefine how they relate to the other. ie "I will help my neighbor but those people on the east side are just lazy and cause thier own problems". NFPs will experience the full gamut of being an empath as they cannot rationalize away the other's pain.
Pain would cause action-ie helping the other so that it does not suffer-the biological, evolutionary basis of empathy as a society depends on having each of us support the other so reciprocally, wehn we need help, the other will support us.
If a true biologically induced sensation, then the empathic person can suffer stress, a biological phenomena, from not being able to alieviate the suffering of the other. High stree can trigger all types of other problems-depression, CFS, fibromyalgia-all thought to be mental but as of late found to have true biological components.
Thus, it follows that highly empathic people are more likely to suffer from stress induced types of illnesses.
Another aspect:
When surrounded by others in pain, to relieve the empathic pain, the empath does something to help the other. If they cannot, not only do they continue to feel the other's pain but also experience guilt at not being able to allieve the other's pain. After years of being surrounded by a society full of suffering the empath is weighed doen by loads of guilt and remorse that don't really have a specific origin. They seek forgiveness for this lack of ability to do anything via religion, self-injury, or sado-masochisitic relationships where they give conrtol to another. That person/god then can "punish" them for their inability to act in the past and then "forgive" them.
The empath oddly enough gets a sens of joy and euphoria when helping others. For them charitible work can also be a source of forgiveness and "action" in aleiviating the other's pain thus stopping the internal pain as well.
Empath personality types: SFJ and NFP. The SFJ will be better off as they can fall back on societal norms as the reson they did not help the other or build up walls that redefine how they relate to the other. ie "I will help my neighbor but those people on the east side are just lazy and cause thier own problems". NFPs will experience the full gamut of being an empath as they cannot rationalize away the other's pain.
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