Inhale. Exhale.

  Recently, I got an email newsletter from Dr. Hohn about the role of oxygen in the human body,

"Secondly, let's address the acid and alkaline condition of our body. An acidic body is low in oxygen. An alkaline body is high in oxygen. The food we eat determines to a large effect whether our body is acidic or alkaline.

Third I want to address stress. Stress tightens our muscle fibers and restricts the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the cells. Stress and suffocation are closely related. If we learned how to fill our lungs fuller and empty our lungs more completely, we could easily double our energy and endurance."---Dr. Hohn

  This week has been a busy and super frustrating week at work.  So i was surprised to see how much difference deep breathing can do to release my stress.  When I stress out, I can feel my chest and shoulder tighten, and feels like there's something building up inside.  And the more tighten I feel, the more upset I tend to be.  It's a vicious cycle.  But all that is gone when I do deep breathing and fill up my lung to the max. Instantly, I feel more at ease and any negative emotion would subside.  Amazing how little things like that can turn my mood around.

A rummy tiramisu

A weekend ago, I made a tiramisu with the assistance of Lansia. I don't remember exactly where I got the recipe, but it was simple enough.  There was no baking required, just soak the ladyfingers in rum (and we added Kahlua), layer it with coffee-flavored mascarpone cheese, then top it with cocoa powder.

   Looks appealing, until we started eating it. It turned out that my tiramisu was too rummy.  I should have diluted the rum with milk or coffee or something, because the tiramisu tasted more bitter than creamy sweet.  But I enjoyed making it, and watching the mascarpone cheese semi-melt itself into the soaked layer of ladyfingers.

"Time to get real"---NPR

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

   So with all the recent talks about the economic downturn, i thought this clip on The Daily Show is pretty thoughtful.  For those of you who doesn't know the backdrop story, Jim Cramer is the host of CNBC's Mad Money, where he gives investing advice.  And Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central, launched a so-called  anchor war when he criticized Cramer's judgement and CNBC at large.  So Cramer later appeared on Stewart's show.  

   A day after the show aired, NPR was commenting on it, siding with Jon Stewart.  I personally think most ppl would agree with Stewart's point that stock experts out there need to take more responsibility by emphasizing to people about the downside of investment. And that most people who make quick profit in the stock market (before it crashed) were pros, and everyone else's retirement/savings account got screwed when the stock index tanked.   My favorite part is when Stewart said that it's largely misleading to convince the average person about making "quick money" as if it is a sure thing with little risk involved, and that we are a nation of workers, and only through work and savings can you build up your wealth, anything else contains risks.  What bothered me was when Cramer told Stewart that Bear Stern's CEO had lie to him about the company right before it went bankrupt, even though he personally knew the guy for like 20 yrs!

   After seeing so many stories surfacing the news these days, I think the recession is here to stay for the next 3-5 yrs.  It's simply karma, companies were dishonest to shareholders to inflate the bubble,  borrowers lie to mortgage companies to obtain assets that they can't afford.  So it's not surprising that we are in this mess right now.

During group meeting

Going over plans,

Boss: you know, you are too detail oriented.

Me: well, i am a Virgo.

Crazy stuff

Today I got a haircut, and my hairdresser convinced me to change my parting from left side to right side. She said that changing parting can prevent hair loss around the original parting, and the new parting would have more volume to it. So after that, i googled hair parting, and came upon this article .

"A left hair part draws unconscious attention to the left side of the brain, which controls activities traditionally associated with masculinity. A right hair part draws unconscious attention to the right side of the brain, which controls activities traditionally associated with femininity. [...]A woman who parts her hair on the left and wants acceptance in a traditionally male role - business, for example, or politics - will be taken more seriously than a woman with a right part."

It's kinda crazy how they show different pictures to support the theory. Anyways, just thought it's interesting, i guess i am more "feminine" now because my parting is on the right side.