1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY.

You many like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period of this time around.

2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS.

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES ONLY LESSONS.

Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The “failed: experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works”.

4. A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL LEARNED.

A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go to the next lesson.

5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END.

There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. “THERE” IS NO BETTER THAN “HERE”.

When your “there” has become a “here” you will only obtain another “there” that will again look like “here”.

7. OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU.

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects some thing you love or hate about yourself.

8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU.

You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. YOUR ANSWERS LIE INSIDE OF YOU.

The answers to LIFE’s question lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL OF THIS.

11. YOU CAN REMEMBER IT WHENEVER YOU WANT.

From “Rules for Being Human” by Cherie Carter Scott

Kandice Kottke-Marchant, MD, PhD
Cleveland Clinic

ast fall we held a health fair at our office. One employee who had recently had her annual physical decided to have her cholesterol levels measured again at the fair. To her surprise — and dismay — the reading on the second cholesterol test was almost 20% higher than the first. Which results should she believe?
I recounted this incident to Kandice Kottke-Marchant, MD, PhD, clinical pathologist at the renowned Cleveland Clinic. She told me that many factors can influence test results. These include diet, medications, differences between laboratories, even season (cholesterol counts tend to increase in winter). Patients can’t control all of these factors — but there are ways to increase lab test accuracy. Steps to take in advance…

Make sure the lab is accredited. The physician and the insurance carrier dictate where a test is performed. Labs are typically accredited by reputable organizations, but it is a good idea to check that the lab has accreditation.

Use the same lab every time, if possible, since there can be significant testing differences between laboratories. In my colleague’s case, only the first test actually involved lab work. The health-fair test was the “instant” kind — so disparate results were more likely.

Follow all instructions — for example, eating a meal exactly two hours before a two-hour postprandial blood sugar test or abstaining from sexual intercourse for two days prior to a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.

Review your medications, dietary supplements and herbal remedies with your doctor. These can affect lab test results. For example, high levels of vitamin C interfere with certain tests… birth control pills can increase blood sugar… some antidepressants and blood pressure medications can decrease blood sugar. Generally, these factors can be taken into account when interpreting the test results, but your doctor may advise a change in your regimen before the test.

If you have experienced significant stress recently or exercised strenuously, tell your doctor. Those factors can increase blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation indicator associated with heart disease.

To avoid bacterial contamination, clean yourself with soap and water before giving a urine sample, or particularly for women, use the special wipes available at testing facilities.

Dr. Kottke-Marchant warns that patients should keep a watchful eye during a test, too. For example…

If blood flows too slowly as it is drawn, clots may form, invalidating the results for some tests, especially hematology and coagulation tests (drawn in tubes with purple or light blue tops). A simple tilt of the tube back and forth may detect a clotted sample.

Check that the sample is labeled accurately. Confirm your name, type of test, date drawn and, if at a hospital, patient ID number.

Treatment decisions generally should not be made on the basis of a single out-of-range reading, says Dr. Kottke-Marchant. A second test, drawn from a new sample, helps to confirm whether an out-of-range result is in line with prior results.

Sometimes trends can be more important than absolute numbers. A Johns Hopkins University study, for example, suggests that the annual rate of increase in PSA may be more significant than simply looking at whether the numbers are within the normal range.

As for my colleague — after her elevated cholesterol readings, her physician decided to change her cholesterol-lowering medication. Her total cholesterol count is now lower, and she expects it to continue to drop. She is delighted — and so am I!

Woman has 200 orgasms a day
Sarah, 24, suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome

ORGASMS: Sarah

By Matthew Acton, 04/11/2007

PRETTY Sarah Carmen is a 200-a-day orgasm girl who gets good, good, GOOD vibrations from almost anything.

The rumble of a train on the tracks, the purr of a hairdryer, the rhythmic drone of a photo-copier are all enough to make her go oh oh oh, ahhhhh.

She had FIVE orgasms during our 40-minute interview. But I can’t take the credit-it was just talking about her sex life that set her off.

Sarah, 24, suffers from Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), which increases blood flow to the sex organs.

She said: “Sometimes I have so much sex to try to calm myself down I get bored of it. And men I sleep with don’t seem to make as much effort because I climax so easily.”

As she chatted, Sarah became increasingly flustered.

“Sorry, you’ll have to excuse me for a minute. I’ll be with you in a sec,” she mumbled before letting out a long sigh.

Sarah, from London, developed PSAS after being prescribed anti-depressants at 19.

Stunned

She believes her condition was brought on by the pills.

She said: “Within a few weeks I just began to get more and more aroused more and more of the time and I just kept having endless orgasms.

“It started off in bed where sex sessions would last for hours and my boyfriend would be stunned at how many times I would orgasm.

“Then it would happen after sex. I’d be thinking about what we’d done in bed and I’d start feeling a bit flushed, then I’d become aroused and climax.

“In six months I was having 150 orgasms a day-and it has been as many as 200.”

She and her boyfriend split- and new partners struggle to keep up with her sex demands. “Often, I’ll want to wear myself out by having as many orgasms as I can so they stop and I can get some peace,” she said.

Sarah is a beautician and working in salons filled with whirring hairdryers and skincare gadgets can cause problems.

“If I start coughing and run to the loo, the girls know to fetch the client a magazine or a cup of tea,” she said, adding, “Sometimes I’d like to just have a normal life.”

Sarah says the Permanent Sexual Arousal Syndrome that she suffers from can cause her to have orgasm at any time of day.

She explained: “Anything can set me off. Even the hairdryers cause funny pulsations through my body.

“As a skin care specialist I have to use tools which vibrate a lot of the time for micro-dermabrasion and they sometimes set me off.

“I find if I’m nervous I’m less likely to get over-excited. So sometimes I try to psyche myself up and worry to control my orgasms.

“Some of my regular customers know my problem. But with new clients it’s hard to explain.

“I have been in the middle of a treatment and it’s happened and I’ve had to carry on.

“I was doing a bikini wax and you have to really concentrate and keep your hands very still, and mine go a bit wobbly when I orgasm.

“I had to pretend I had cramp in my foot and just stood there wriggling around on the spot and stifling my moans until it was over.”

Sarah’s friends think she is the luckiest girl ever, although her family think her behaviour is sometimes slightly odd.

She said: “The best way to describe how I am when I am with my family and I have one of my ‘moments’ is that I behave like Sheila from Shameless.

“I just get a bid giddy and yelp out and try to control myself. I’ve never sat down and explained it to my mum and dad.

“They just think I get a bit hyperactive round them.

“My friends think it’s great. I have more orgasms in one day than most of them will probably have in a year.

“They say to me that they feel lucky if their boyfriend makes them have one orgasm-some days I have one every ten minutes.”

It has proved to be a problem for Sarah in some relationships.

She said: “I dated one guy who was very selfish and he was that way in the bedroom too. He’d just lie back and expect me to please him.

“He just figured that because I could climax without him even having to touch me, he didn’t need to do anything to please me.

“I just thought that was rude and inconsiderate. It didn’t last very long with him.”

Noisy

She has also had embarrassing moments in public. Going to noisy bars and clubs is out of the question as the vibrations send her wild.

“We have to find nice quiet bars,” she explained. “I have more orgasms if I have a drink as it relaxes me so I tend to drink very little now.

“It can be a bit embarrassing if I’m tipsy and guys who don’t know me talk to me, because I find it harder to hide.

“The most embarrassing thing that has happened was when I answered a market research questionnaire and had an orgasm in front of the researcher.

“She knew what was happening and looked at me like I was a weirdo. I tried to explain that I couldn’t help it, but I was blushing so much I had to walk away.”

Sarah has even been to a Sex Addicts’ Anonymous meeting in despair over her sex drive.

She said: “At first when the problem started I just wanted to have sex all the time, I thought I was a sex addict.

“But when I looked around the room and heard the stories other people told, about how desperate they were for sex, I realised I wasn’t like them.

Problem

“With me, it was a means of releasing my orgasm, but now I know I don’t have to have sex to do that.”

Sarah has looked into the condition and believes it may have been triggered by her taking anti-depressants.

She said: “I’ve found studies that say that taking anti-depressants and then stopping has an effect on the sexual organs. That is the only thing that explains what happens to me.

“But I’ve heard of other girls who have the same problem and it just appears out of the blue. I’ve spoken to my doctor about it but she wasn’t a great deal of help but that’s mainly because there’s very little known about it and no one yet knows how to cure it.”

Thanks to her understanding friends and colleagues, Sarah feels like she can now live with PSAS.

She said: “I’m lucky because people around me are very kind and appreciate that sometimes this is a problem for me and it can be embarrassing.

“I need to concentrate on something sad or worrying when I talk to people and I don’t want to get carried away.”

During our 40-minute interview, Sarah told us she had five orgasms.

Years of dealing with the problem means that sometimes she can hide it quite well.

Her voice goes high pitched and she will lose her train of thought and have to stop talking completely for a few seconds. She says disguises this by coughing when she is in awkward situations.

“But it’s also nice to have so much excitement every day! It’s strange because it came from nowhere and I guess it could go away just as quickly, so I’m making the most of it while it lasts!”

(This article was originally published in the News of the World on November 4, 2007)

Monday, 27 April 2009 19:33
Guam
Guam – Despite the U.S. economic slowdown, an economic forecast from First Hawaiian says Guam’s economy stands out as one of the few places that has a brighter economic future, primarily due to a “massive” military buildup.
The report was compiled by First Hawaiian Economic advisory and Professor of Economics at the Hawaii Pacific University, Dr. Leroy O. Laney.
In his report, Dr. Laney concludes that  “Over the longer haul, the military buildup will make Guam’s economy more resilient, similar to other economies that have a significant federal spending component. Various industries in the private sector such as tourism and construction are always subject to of cyclical variation. But the military provides an underpinning that is always there. Guam can be thankful for that.” 
Read the First Hawaiian Report On Guam’s Economy
Among the highlights of the report Laney writes:
* Construction will undoubtedly be the leading edge of growth on Guam for the next several years at least. The industry must be prepared for a significant ramp-up when the military buildup does actually start.
* Guam’s inflation rate held in a steady range for 2008. Consumer price inflation registered 6.2% for the year, after a 6.8% pace in 2007. As the Marine transfer actually gets underway, the economic growth rate and inflation will likely increase further.
* Guam’s total visitor arrivals fell over 7% for 2008 after two years of approximately stable numbers. Its two major markets, Japan and Korea, dropped 9% and 10%, respectively. That puts the island roughly on par with Hawaii, which saw a drop of almost 11% in arrivals for 2008. Nonetheless Guam has managed to retain its market share of about 5.4% of outbound Japan travelers in the past two fiscal years. Hotel occupancies are about stable on average and room rates actually have been rising some.
* There is a need to develop a unified brand image for Guam.  Efforts that go beyond marketing are needed, including cleaning up the local scene such as erasing graffiti and cutting the grass. Laney writes that “In the early days, most of Guam’s Japanese visitors had never traveled abroad. Now they have seen other places and have higher standards.”  

Hafa adai

Anna

Now that I’m older, this shit sucks.