TDetroit’s ramblings and nonsense

it’s official, my membership at Lifetime ends on Dec. 31st, 08.   I will still get as much use ass I can unyil then, prob even go on New Years Eve- just to make sure. 

Then i begin the process of getting into Fitness 19.  It will be just a half mile from the new corporate office that i’ll be moving to next year.  life will be great, work, shop, gym and home will all be on the same street, with only 10 miles and 2 traffic lights between them.

life can’t gat any more simplified than that

yup.  I am quitting. 

nope, not quitting working out, just Lifetime Fitness.  The wife can never go back, her cancer is progressing steadily, and we live to far to go home from work and pick up the kids to bring them back to the gym to goof around for a while.

So, I am going to cancel Lifetime.  it is too expensive for a place that I run into, lift real quick and then run out.  to get your money worth at that place, you need to use the place.  they have a great steam room, and basketball courts, and rock climbing, and squash courts, etc.  it’s a great place, but for someone like me who has to get home and take care of the kids, it just too expensive.

I’ll take a couple months and just lift at home with the small weight kit I have, then I’ll join Fitness 19.  It’s about 2 miles closer to home, and on my side of the Rochester, so I don’t have to go through the village.  It’s a bit less expensive, because they don’t have all the amenities.  it’s just a workout place.  go in, change, workout, change, leave.  that’s it.

so, I get to save money, it’s easier to be a single parent, it’s slightly closer to home,and it has everything I will be using.

This is the new obstacle cancer ahs thrown at my wife.  apparently, due to 1 of 3 causes, the bones give up the calcium and it floods the blood stream.  The symptoms are : confusion, off balance, sleepiness, irritability, disoriented, unable to do simple tasks, dehydration - in short, the sick person looks permanently drunk. The causes are:  cancer has metastisized to the bone, the para-thyroid has gone bad (this is not the thyroid, it’s a different gland), or the cancer itself is secreting an enzyme which stops the metabolism of calcium.  The treatment is:  bio-phosphates and IV.  The biophosphates act to bring the calcium back to the bones.  The strongest biophosphate is zomeda.  it is given once per month (twice if desparate).  It takes 3 to 4 days to get back to normal calcium levels. It also causes all of the other electrolytes to go haywire.  Chloride, sodium, magnesium etc all go off kilter, creating a life threatening situation.  to treat these, various supplements are added to the IV. All of this got me thinking, we all take supplements regularly.  I take calcium every day, and zinc, and niacin, and a daily vit (though I will be stopping that soon because of an overload of iron in my blood already - and daily vits carry a lot of iron, that’s why the pill is so big). I have a policy of not taking the amount the bottle says to take.  It’s a bit of a story, so enjoy:  When I was in third year at Michigan State, I took marketing 301.  The professor was on the subject of convincing people to buy more product.  Among the various methods are:  alternate uses (arm and hammer is the best example- this stuff probably will increase the fuel economy of your car somehow), upgrade the product (Tide!  Has anyone ever bought a box of Tide that didn’t say, "New Tide" somewhere on the box?), etc.  The method that applies here is on the shampoo bottle. The shampoo bottle has instructions.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  To emphasize the point, the professor actually brought his shampoo bottle to class.  Yes is was half empty and had soap and water stains on it.  He read the instructions to the class.  And then without comment, put a hand on his head, put a look of abject embarassment on his face and wandered to the corner of the room where there was a stage curtain, and hid behind that curtain.  From this vantage point he asked the most profound question, "Is my hair dirty?  I don’t repeat.  I am so ashamed."  The point is, you don’t need to repeat, the shampoo works the first time.  they tell you to repeat so that you will use more and buy more.  It’s that simple.  There is no physical harm to you to use more, the only harm is to your wallet or purse - all is fair in marketing. Now apply that to you nutrient bottles.  My calcium bottle says, "take 2 pills 3 times per day."  Well, now that I know about hyper calcemia, I am glad I don’t follow those instructions.  I take one pill mid day.  In the morning, I take zinc, glucosimine, C.  Afternoon I take, potassium,calcium, coQ10 (only because the wife had some she didn’t want and I don’t waste anything), fish oil, niacin. With all of these, I under use according to the instructins.  I feel great.  I get the effects I am looking for.  My bones are strong (calcium), muscles are not as sore (potassium), my muscles are growing (zinc), cholesterol is down (niacin) etc.  Now you certainly make the arguement that it is my other activities and my diet that is doing all these things, and that shorting the pills makes the pills worthless.  My reply, is this.  I am not in a hospital bed.  I am extremely healthy.  I just add a little extra supp to the diet via these pills, and definitely do not overdo it. I would like to say, being low on these nutrients is one thing, but you need to avoid go over as well.